Six Hundred Years
by Kelyse Llewes
Summary: Tia McPherson has joined Draco Malfoy in the Head's common room for his final year at Hogwarts introducing him into a world he never knew existed. A world long past. Please R & R.
1. The New Roommate

**Six Hundred Years**

**By: Kelsey Sewell**

**Chapter One: The New Room Mate**

He walked into the dorm and started unknotting his tie. What a horrible first day, he thought. Nothing exciting happened, and worst of all, Harry, Hermione and Ron were not there. Something must have happened because they did not return to school. And as Head Boy, he was now forced to share a room with the new Head Girl, and she was far from being Hermione as he had expected. But the truth of the matter was, he hadn't even met her yet.

He stomped his way up the stairs and threw off his vest and white cotton shirt. He began to unbutton his jeans and pull them down when someone knocked in his door. There was only one person who was allowed in the Head's Common Room and Dorm, and he felt for sure it would be her, the new Head Girl.

He turned towards the door and called, "Just a minute," angrily, and then buttoned his jeans up again and threw on a black shirt he found in his second from the top drawer.

He walked with purpose towards the door and flung it open. Staring at him with equal purpose and exquisite beauty was his new dorm-mate.

"Hello," she said abruptly, holding out her hand to him. "My name is Tia. Tia McPherson."

He eyed her up and glanced at her hand. Aside from being nearly a head shorter than himself, she was almost an exact replica of his mother when she'd been a girl, with the exception of the hair and eyes, and possibly the heritage. She had majestic emerald green eyes with beautiful streaming gold hair. Her bust was almost the perfect size for her small and fragile body, one he couldn't help but imagine naked, free of clothes.

She noticed his far away look as he swept his gaze over her body, so she cleared her throat to bring him back to reality.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"You don't know me?" he asked, confused that the Head Girl would had not been informed who the Head Boy was.

"No I don't. I just got here this morning and missed the first classes. I received my letter only a month ago due to some postage delay, or something, I don't really know. But anyways, it said I was to report to the Headmaster's office and he told me to come here. It would seem he had faith I can be the Head Girl after such a brief meeting. But he never told me I was bunking with someone else. A boy too."

Her attitude towards the entire situation was quite wonderful. She seemed to be able to accept who he was, probably because she still didn't know who he was, and at the same time, allow herself not to look him over. At least he hadn't noticed her doing so.

"I'm Malfoy," he replied, though not taking her outstretched hand that had stayed still.

"Malfoy?" she questioned, frowning slightly. "No last name?"

"That is my last name," he added coldly, leaning up against the frame of the door, crossing his arms across his chest.

"And your first name is…" she offered, looking expectantly at him.

"Draco."

"Ah, Draco Malfoy, funny name."

She was blunt and decisive. Personally, she didn't like his last name that went with his first name, but Draco was okay. It was better than her name, at least.

"It was not made for you to like it," Draco retorted coolly. "What do you want?"

"Nothing," she replied, "I just came to say hi and to introduce myself, seen as how we're living together for the next year."

"Wonderful," he snapped back sarcastically. He then rudely went back inside his room and slammed the door shut behind him.

Tia sighed and then shrugged. She could see his aura bleeding. A horrible wound inside what they called a shield. An aura shows off feelings, kind of like a mood ring, only around people. Beside Draco's bleeding aura, she could sense his dark nature, possible from his parents' dark behavior.

She walked away down the hall and then down the stairs to the common room. It was large and spacious, as she had expected, laden with the silver and green of Slytherin. She had never been sorted so her colors weren't present, had she been in another house. But the green and silver suited her. They were not her favorite, but as for her cover, they were absolutely perfect.

She sat down on the black leather couch and pulled her shoulder bag towards her. She'd dropped it by the coffee table when she heard Draco's door shut upstairs. She'd been anxious to see him after everything she'd heard. And from her performance a few minutes ago, it would seem that Draco did not suspect anything.

From inside her shoulder bag, a beautiful violet color with sequined straps, she pulled out her quills and a few pieces of parchment. Then came the inkpot and her schoolbooks. It had been arranged so she took every class Draco was taking and she was determined to follow through on her mission.

****

"Tia," called her father from downstairs. She'd been looking through an old muggle magazine and her father had interrupted her in the middle of the section about interesting clothing combinations.

_"Yes," she called back._

_"Come down here please," he replied from the bottom of the stairs._

_Tia heaved herself off the floor and walked out of her room. _

_Her room was at the top of a very tall set of spiral stairs and she could see right over the ledge at the top to where her father was standing. She began her descent down the many steps when they suddenly gave way beneath her. It was not as if they broke because they were in fact made if glass, they just disappeared, being replaced by a long and frightful slide. She slid all the way down, on her feet, as she had done many times. _

_When she came close to the bottom, her father caught her with open arms. "Why'd you do that?" she asked him when he set her down again. _

_"You were taking too long," he observed, walking a few strides in front of her._

_"Then why did you let me move my room up there? Duh!"_

_"I'm beginning to regret that fact, Ti."_

_She laughed at his remark and then followed him into the drawing room. It was a small yet warm room with beautiful tapestries on the walls and large goose down chairs, which Tia loved to curl up in. But inside this room there were three other people. They all seemed her age, but they acted much older than they looked. The girl was looking at a few of the books on the shelves, the boys seemed to be standing about, looking at whatever caught their eye._

_Her father cleared his throat and they turned towards where he and Tia stood in the doorway. "This is my daughter," he introduced, "Tia."_

_The girl strode forward and held out her hand to Tia. "Hello, I'm Hermione Granger."_

_"Um…nice to meet you," Tia answered awkwardly._

_The boys came forward and bowed their heads. The taller of the two with red hair and freckles stepped forward and said, "I'm Ronald Weasley."_

_Tia nodded her acknowledgement of him and then turned towards the boy with jet-black hair and round spectacles. He was strong and masculine, Tia could tell. But then she could also sense great distress in him. As if he were in a constant state of pain._

_Tia bowed her head when he went to speak and that made him stop. It was not that she was trying to be rude, but that when she looked at him, directly into his eyes, it hurt her deeply. Not physically, but inside, she could feel what he felt, and he'd not even introduced himself._

_"I'm Harry Potter," he said to her. She refused to look up into his eyes and it must've seemed really rude to Harry, but then Tia's father spoke. _

_"Harry, she must find it painful to look at you. Her gift is indeed strong when so much is present. And your memories, I assume, I can classify as too much for her eyes. Am I right?" he asked Tia._

_Tia looked up at her father and nodded slightly._

_"As I suspected. I knew for sure that if she were to look at you, it would cause her great pain and perhaps kill her."_

_"Kill her?" asked the distressed Hermione._

_"Yes, Miss Granger. She is very strong when it comes to this kind of thing, but when she has met her match, she cannot look at him for fear of being torn from her powers and perhaps be torn in two pieces herself."_

_"That sucks," Ron said, very unceremoniously._

_ Tia laughed at that and looked at the redhead. He seemed to be full of those kind of smart remarks. She could see inside him and his aura around him was very bright, but not without his darker marks. Like a Dalmatian Aura, a very rare kind. It was said that a Dalmatian Aura was the perfect balance of good and bad. Some mischief and then some honor. Tia had only ever seen two in her life, aside from this redhead._

_"What would you like me to do for you?" she asked, looking at only Ron and Hermione._

_"Well…" Hermione began, unsure if she was to continue or not, "we're from the Order of the Phoenix and we're not going back to school this year. We heard of your powers from the Order's grapevine and thought you'd be able to help us locate certain objects."_

_"I read people, not objects."_

_"Yes but Dumbledore, Albus Dumbledore, placed thoughts into Harry's mind before he died and we thought you might be able to detect some clues that could lead us to the objects we seek."_

_Tia looked down. She'd heard of Dumbledore's death and now it seemed all too real. "I don't know what I can do for you. The strongest way to sense thoughts and memories is through the eyes…but…" she couldn't finish._

_"But you can't look at Harry," Hermione finished disappointed._

_"There is another way," Mr. McPherson said, brightening the eyes of the girl. "Tia, won't you try. It would mean so much to your mother, if she were still with us. You know it would. Help them. You know you can."_

_She looked up at her father and saw the pleading in his eyes. She sighed heavily and cleared her thoughts in preparation. _

_"What is she going to do?" Harry asked, watching Tia closely._

_Mr. McPherson didn't answer, but instead looked at Tia. She knew what to do and hopefully it did not draw too much pain when she did it._

_"We're going to have to sit down," she said, motioning the couch to Harry, not looking at him._

_Harry looked suspiciously at the couch and at his friends, but nonetheless, sat down on the sofa. Tia followed and sat beside him._

_"I need you to close your eyes," she told him, edging closer and closer to him. "Are they closed?"_

_"Yes," he answered._

_She lifted her eyes to his closed ones and didn't feel the pain, but she felt the edge of it. Her hands went to his spectacles and pulled them off. She handed them to her father and then turned back. "I'm going to place my forehead on yours and then I want to you open your eyes when I say so, okay?"_

_He kept his eyes closed and said, "But won't that hurt you in some way?"_

_"I'm going to have my eyes closed when you open yours and I should be able to see clearly through your pain to the memories behind it. I might be able to find something there."_

_"Okay," Harry agreed._

_Tia followed through and placed her hands on the sides of his head and then touched his forehead with hers. There was a small shock of static electricity from the power she was generating, but there was no pain. She closed her eyes and the said, "Open your eyes."_

_Although she could not see it, she could feel the action. With the lifting of his eyelids she could feel the expected pain waiting behind them. Like a swarm of bees it swept over her own mind. But also like a swarm of bees, the pain was gone within seconds because of her own mind control. _

_It was like pulling a curtain to the side to reveal a play. Tia saw everything that Harry remembered. She saw when he was eleven and his cousin got stuck behind the glass in the London Zoo. She saw when he was sorted, when he collected the Philosopher's Stone, when he'd gotten into the Chamber of Secrets, spoken to Tom Riddle at the age of 16, when he'd been mobbed with Dementers by the lake, when he was under water at the Triwizard Tournament, when Voldemort came back in the graveyard, when his godfather, Sirius, died at the Ministry of Magic and most recently, the nights he had been spending with Dumbledore, before he had died. It was all there, like a book being read, like a show on TV. It was everything Harry had ever done._

_She picked through the unimportant details to find the memories that Dumbledore himself had shared with Harry. Tia saw the things that were confident between Harry and his previous headmaster, but none of this must've mattered to him because he never pulled away. He was seeing these things as well as she flipped through his mental photo album. _

_She finally came to it. The memory they were seeking. The clue they needed to complete their journey. _

_She let go of the sides of Harry's head and accidentally opened her eyes to find his brilliant green ones staring back at her. There was a searing pain that filled her head and she screamed. Harry jumped back and their eye contact broke. She shriveled to the floor and held her head in her hands. She kept screaming little sobs whenever she rocked back and forth on her knees._

_"Tia…Tia," she heard the voice calling to her. She turned her head to see her father kneeling beside her, his hand rubbing circular motions on her back, calming her sobs._

_She lifted off the ground and clung to her father's neck, hoping to find more comfort in his arms. _

_There is really no way to explain the pain that Tia felt, but to get a good sense of just how bad it is, you could describe it as a thousand knives stabbing all over her body, and worst of all, it was like someone was tugging at either side of her head, stretching it like a tug-a-war with a fleece blanket. It just hurt so much. _

_In her father's arms she began to calm herself and then, when she knew it was finally safe to look away from her father, she glanced over at the stunned Ron and Hermione. Harry was still on the couch and nowhere near Tia's eyesight. _

_"What happened?" Ron asked, looking from the stunned Harry to Tia in her father's arms._

_"We locked eyes," Tia explained quietly._

_"Did you see anything else?" Hermione inquired._

_Tia nodded. "I found what you were looking for."_

****

She woke up abruptly at the sound of the refrigerator closing. It wasn't a very loud sound, but still it woke her. She got up from the couch to peer into the en-suite kitchen they had acquired by becoming the Heads.

He was standing beside the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal in his hand and the carton of milk in the other, shirtless.

Midnight snack, Tia thought to herself. Interesting choice too, for he had chosen the Coco Puff cereal and not the Special K which she had marked him for. Yet there he stood eating the chocolate and peanut butter flavored cereal, completely unaware he was being watched.

"Enjoying the show?" came his voice over his shoulder.

Or maybe he did know. Tia walked forward and leaned up against the counter opposite him, seeing his sleepy eyes and annoyed look. "Actually yes, I was," she answered, crossing her arms across her chest, looking down at his perfectly curved abs.

"Well you can leave now because the show's over."

Tia smiled at this remark. It was funny that he should say something that would wake you fully when clearly he was nowhere near fully awake. "I'm sorry," she said and then turned to go inside the fridge.

"What're you looking for?" he asked her as she bent over to get an apple in the crisper.

"This," she said, holding up the shinny red fruit. "It that okay, your Highness?" she asked sarcastically.

He huffed at her remark and took a spoonful of cereal.

"Can't you sleep?" she asked him, taking a bite of the apple.

"I can," he replied, distracted slightly, "but not while I'm eating cereal."

"Oohh," replied Tia snootily. He really was as bad as she was informed.

He finished his cereal and placed the bowl in the sink. He yawned slightly and stretched his arms above his head. "I'm off to bed now," he said, smirking, "want to join me?"

She frowned at him and put her hands on her hips. "And what makes you think I'd even consider it?" she asked.

"Because who can resist this?" he smiled, motioning over himself in a presenting fashion.

"Oh," Tia said smartly, making him think she was actually thinking she wanted him, "well…if you put it that way…maybe…um…I'll pass!"

"Your loss," he said, pivoting and walking from the kitchen.

"Your gain I expect," she shot after him.

He did not come back to pass out an equally smart remark, but left her alone in the dimly lit kitchen to eat the rest of her apple.

"This is going to be easy," she said to herself, positioning herself in front of the wastebasket, six feet away from her. She threw the apple core and it went directly into the basket. "Two points," she commended herself before taking her walk to her own room.


	2. Guarding the Guard

Chapter Two: Guarding the Guard

He woke up groggy from being up so late last night. Even though it was his last year and no one took heed that he had almost killed Dumbledore last year, he had received no homework. He wasn't expecting to either because of his father and the things he was capable of. His father had protested against him when he said he'd like to go back to the school after last term. But Draco had been successful and managed to come back for his last year being a student.

To his great disappointment though, Harry had not come back, and neither had his two irritating friends. But this only made things that much more enjoyable. He'd thought he had it all worked out, until she came. She, with her perfect body. She with the pleasant voice and an infuriating way of making him lose focus for a moment. What was wrong with him? He'd been so tough and nearly indestructible last year and now he was falling weak at the knees whenever she looked at him.

He needed to shake this feeling and get back to whatever he planned on doing that year. But, his most insistent plan, in the back of his head, would have to wait a moment, because at that instant he heard Tia singing.

He opened his door and walked down the hall to the bathroom, the door of which was slightly ajar. Inside he heard Tia's soft and lullaby-like voice floating over the top of a radio she had conveniently moved to the counter beside the shower. Draco pushed the door open more and saw her perfect body behind the blurry shower curtain, taunting his manhood.

All he had on was his black cotton pajama pants and all she had on was…nothing. This excited him greatly and the impulse that tugged at him finally won over. He pulled off his pants and then slowly pulled back the shower curtain.

She'd wanted to block out whatever she'd been thinking when she woke up and so far it was working because she no longer recalled what her thoughts had been, or her dream. It had been a dream she dared not think about during the day because it was against everything she was there to do. So the shower was cold to begin with and her skin began to numb under the pounding water. Then when she wished her body to feel again, she turned the knobs and the warmth hit her. After the warmth she began to sing one of her favorite country songs from back home. This had completely distracted her and she now felt like nothing could touch her.

A shadow on the wall tiles startled her and she turned to face away from the showerhead. She nearly screamed her head off when she saw Draco standing there, butt-naked.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" she yelled at him, covering her breasts and turning once more from him.

"I came to have a shower," he replied, a wide smirk on his face.

"Well I'm in here, so get out," she retorted, trying hard not to turn around and look at his gorgeous body.

"No," he said, coming closer to her back.

"Get back," she yelled at him, but he did not back up. Rather he came closer, making her breathing loud and irregular.

She was not aware of how much her naked body was tormenting him, her smooth buttocks and her firm thighs. It was driving him insane. He was only inches from her now and she turned sideways to look at him. It was a turn that took him under control. Without any reason at all, no logic behind his actions, he reached out and took her hands from where they were, covering her breasts.

She struggled against this, but he was too strong and soon her chest was completely uncovered, making her feel very naked indeed.

"Stop that," she managed before his mouth covered hers and his hands were on her bare back.

The kiss, if one could call something so exquisite by such a plain name, was everything she'd ever wanted, everything she didn't want and everything she had ever missed in any other kiss. It was deep and passionate and as his tongue played with hers, he was backing her up against the wall of the shower.

Her hands weaseled their way up between their two wet bodies and snaked around his neck. His hand moved down her hip towards her thigh and brought her leg up around his waist. She automatically lifted her other leg off the ground and wrapped it around his waist.

Her hands went through his hair and massaged the nape of his neck. It had been such a long time since he'd felt so exhilarated. With every flick of her tongue, she wished there was some way to keep this feeling forever.

For some reason though, he stopped where he was and released her lips. He looked back at her and she still had her eyes closed. Something inside him, although he desperately didn't want to stop, made him stop. There was some inner being that was controlling him and even though the woman in his arms didn't let go, or look like she was using some kind of magic, he sensed she was. He let go of her hips and she slid her legs from his waist.

"Open your eyes," he growled.

She did and he saw it. The something that was hidden deep within her eyes. It was a tiny spark, an image, a feeling, not for him, but for something else.

"What's wrong?" she asked him, not releasing his neck.

"What are you doing?" he asked, turning his head sideways to not look at her directly.

"You told me to open my eyes and I did. Why have you stopped?"

"Like you don't know," he snapped back at her.

She released his neck and put her hands on her hips, "What the hell are you talking about?" she asked, trying hard to convince him she was sincere.

"You know what I'm talking about," he retorted and disappeared from the shower. The water still pounded down on her back and so she turned to face it. She washed away whatever it was she had felt before and replaced it with the determination she needed to complete her task. But with him always around her, it would prove to be a little harder than she thought.

He walked into his room and slammed the door shut. She'd been controlling him. He knew for certain that was what happened in the shower. He didn't know how or why, but one thing was for sure, she meant to do it to him. He needed to keep his distance now or else she'd be able to see right through him and that wasn't the greatest thing to have when you were the Prince of Slytherin.

His job that year was to make sure the one thing that the Dark Lord knew was safe, was in fact safe. Potter would surely figure out what it was and where to find it and it was Draco's job to keep it safe, no matter what.

Now Draco knew the dark Lord's strength was growing and that even if Potter was able to figure out the clue, then he'd never get into Hogwarts. There was everything standing against him. Yet Draco had been assigned this job and he was going to stick to it. If he proved to be successful then he would be initiated and become a full-fledged Death Eater.

****

Tia got out of the shower and ran her fingers through her hair. What had possessed Draco to do something like that? And what had possessed her to actually go along with it. It was true to a limit that she had been controlling him slightly, but any other time her powers had been undetectable and all of a sudden he could feel them taking hold of his body. And what a perfect body to choose.

But there was something else in there too. Draco didn't seem to feel pain. Harry's eyes had been full of pain and suffering and yet Draco's weren't. Either he had never felt pain because she had not yet sensed it. Or it was that he could hide it. Tia had only ever met one other person who could hide their feelings and memories, and even make their aura change, but that had been some time ago and was thousands of miles from where she stood in the bathroom in front of the mirror.

****

_As she walked the halls of the school in the dead of night she could feel a presence lurking behind her. There was no definition to this presence, nothing that could betray who it was, but Tia was certain they were up to no good. _

_She rounded the corner and walked past her locker, which had been her original destination. The only two people who should be in the school at that hour of the night should have been the janitor who slept in a loft behind the boiler, and herself. But then the presence had appeared and she suddenly felt very protective. She had learned well not to betray anything that might compromise and this act had proved to be very useful._

_The corridor lengthened into the longest of the school, between the gymnasium and the arts rooms. At the end of the hallway she could see a dim shadow of a girl. She had no defining figures and even creepier, no defining aura. It somehow kept changing and her magic was very advanced._

_"Tia…" a voice called out to her, whispering as if carried in on the wind._

_"What?" Tia called back, looking at the shadow in the distance. "What do you want?"_

_"Tia…" the voice called again._

_"What do you want?" yelled Tia, suddenly very afraid of the darkened school and long corridor._

_"Tia," whispered a voice from behind her._

_Reflex and reactions had taught her to be quick and accurate about her fighting technique so when she swung around she felt something slip through her own aura and then fade out again. "What do you want?" she yelled out again._

_A mist appeared before her and showed a figure of the woman, encased in a black robe and a mist-like, violet dress. "Tia McPherson…" the ethereal figure spoke, elegantly and sounding out every consonant and vowel. "Are you Tia?"_

_"Ah… yeah," Tia concluded, placing her hands on her hips trying to be brave._

_"Good," the figure said. She then morphed completely into a different girl. This one was less frightening with long black hair and crystal blue eyes. She looked no older than Tia at the time and probably had as much experience as Tia, only in a different art._

"_I'm Margaret. I was just trying to make sure you were who I thought you were."_

_This girl now sounded like a normal teenager. "Do I know you?" Tia asked, still a little uneasy._

_"No," Margaret said. "I came on behalf of someone else and I think it has something to do with a boy in England. I'm not sure."_

_"Who sent you?" _

_"An old man named Albus Dumbledore. I think he went to speak to your father. He has everything figured out and I offered to come and find you."_

_Tia frowned at the girl and let down her guard. "How'd you find me?"_

_"I latch onto aura's which is why mine is always changing. I don't have a proper name but I like to thing of myself as a leech because I can latch on so strongly that sometimes I suck the aura right out of the person." Tia's mouth dropped open at this remark and Margaret laughed. "It doesn't kill the person," Margaret explained, "It just leaves them without an aura which can sometimes confuse people who study them, but anyways…lets get out of here. Your father will be looking for you._

_"He will?" Tia asked, walking alongside Margaret towards the front doors._

_"Sure, didn't I mention that Dumbledore would be at your house explaining everything to your father? I'm sure I said that."_

_"Okay, you proved your point," Tia admitted glumly. She didn't understand the half of what was happening and most of it was pretty scary. But this Dumbledore person sounded like he was important and Tia had heard something about him and a war in England. It had something to do with a powerful dark lord and some boy her age. But that was as far as her information got. _

_"Can you apparate?" asked Margaret after they were outside the school on the front steps._

_"Of course I can," replied Tia. "Do you know where you're going?"_

_"Oh, I'm not going with you. I was told to come and find you and inform you about everything, but I have to get back to where I belong."_

_"What?" Tia said, a little surprised at this chance meeting and the fact it would be broken so fast. "Will I ever see you again?"_

_It was a little weird and perhaps childish, but she did feel a connection to this girl and she'd hate it if she never saw Margaret again._

_"Chill girl," Margaret said, positioning herself in the middle of a field. "This ain't over till it's over. And as far as I'm concerned, this ain't over by a long shot. See you around." And with those words, the girl that was Margaret whimsically vanished into the black swirling mist and drifted away into the sky._

_Tia watched the black mist swirl out of sight before getting her three D's in order to get back to her house. Something told her that this Dumbledore was a patient man, but he might get a little edgy when she didn't show up soon._

_And then she was gone._

_****_

Tia snapped back to reality to find herself sitting on her bed in her Head Girl room in the dormitory that she shared with Draco Malfoy, a man that she had kissed and wanted to kiss again. But even when sitting down and discussing the rules, they had completely skipped over the part about never kissing the enemy, or the man she was supposed to be guarding. Funny, she thought to herself. She was guarding Draco who was supposedly guarding the seventh thing that Harry was looking for. She was the guard of the guard.

She chuckled to herself lightly and pulled the towel from around her damp body. It landed in a heap on the floor and she walked lightly over towards her closet. It was nearly nine o'clock and she needed to get ready for class. A class she very much wanted to miss. But as a posing student she needed to be accountable or else the professors would be suspicious. The only other person in the school who knew about her was Professor McGonagall and she was sworn to silence. Not only by every member of the order, but by an actual spell that prevented her from telling the secret. It was a spell that would be cancelled out only when the person who cast it, or Tia herself uttered the counter curse. But she was sure that would never happen. She would prove her worth, through and through.

She hastily began to pull on her school uniform and pinned her Head Girl badge to her vest. The color of her uniform didn't have a specific set of colors to it, as she had not been sorted. It was a range of purple and blue and bluey-green which reflected her eyes beautifully.The only thing about the ensemble she didn't like was the shortness of her skirt. It was apparent that she had no problems being seen naked in front of Draco, but being seen by the entire school in only half of her clothes made her feel uncomfortable.

She gave up on her reasoning because it wasn't going to make the skirt any longer. She grabbed her bag and rushed out the door, carefully avoiding Draco who was in the kitchen drinking a cup of black coffee.

She exited the portrait and walked briskly off to her first class, one which she was sure would have another unpleasant encounter with her roommate.


	3. With Love and Lust

Chapter Three: With Love and Lust

When Tia walked in the portrait hole at the end of the day, she collapsed down on the couch in front of the fire from exhaustion. This year was going to be so difficult. It was her first day and she already had potions, charms, and defence against the dark arts. The only class she managed not to have homework in was transfiguration because she was the only one who had managed to change the entire desk into a snow leopard. Interesting choice of cat, but it was easy.

She'd managed, miraculously, to avoid Draco for the entire day. He normally sat at the back of the room with his cronies, Crabbe, Goyle and Blaise. Such arrogance in men and also such stupidity. Blaise had at once noticed Tia when she walked into the classroom because, and unfortunately, she had overheard him say she was "a babe." No doubt he would hit on her on many occasions when he was in the common room with Draco.

She pulled her hair from the straining ponytail on her head and let her golden hair flow over her shoulders. Best to get started on her homework now, she thought pulling out her schoolbooks and parchment. In potions she had an essay to write, in charms she had a paper to write about the spell they'd been practicing in class that day, and in defence against the dark arts she was ordered to complete three charts on the properties of the Seven Surges. She huffed at the last one because in order to complete the charts you needed to actually study the pictures in the text. What a useless activity. She was finished that first, followed by her paper for charms. She was just pulling out her potions book when the portrait hold burst open.

"Why the hell would I care if she's here or not?" Tia heard Draco say as they came in.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because she's your roommate," came another voice behind Draco.

"So what. She's not my responsibility."

"Whatever!"

They came fully into the common room then and saw Tia sitting on the settee looking intently at the two of them. "Hello," she said sweetly, knowing very well it was she whom Blaise had been talking about.

"Ah…Hi," replied Draco and then continued towards the kitchen.

Blaise on the other hand stayed where he was and glanced at Tia, up and down.

"Well…" Tia said, making the gesture to herself, "You like what you see?"

Blaise smiled widely and walked over to sit beside her. "As a matter of fact, Tia, was it? I think you are beautiful. Pity your not in Slytherin."

This made Tia smile wider because there was no proof that she wasn't in Slytherin. "Pity? If I were in Slytherin then you'd go for me right?" She made herself seem as innocent and as flirtatious as possible. She had to mingle or else she would be suspected of something or another.

"I'll go for you no matter what hun. But if you were in Slytherin then I would definitely make you my girlfriend." Blaise smiled his handsome smile and despite the fact that she had almost been insulted, she had no choice but to smile back. She saw his aura and made out that he was not cruel, and neither did he feel pain. The only pain she could see was when he was very little and he'd lost his grandfather. Other than that he was just a handsome and considerably nice person. She looked at her parchment and quill, still positioned to write something down. She felt eyes on the back of her head and she spun to look at Draco who'd been peering from behind the kitchen wall.

"Come out Draco," Blaise called to his friend. "She's not going to bite you," he joked.

Tia heard Draco mumble something under his breath before he came out to sit beside the fire in a large armchair.

"Aren't you going to do your homework?" Tia asked, not the least surprised that he'd walked in with no bag.

"Not unless I suddenly to care about my schoolwork," he retorted.

"Ooh, defensive," she criticized.

Blaise chuckled softly and Draco glared at him. The look showed much distaste and yet Tia found something she had not expected in Draco's glare: jealousy.

Silence fell and Tia went back to her homework. It was half an hour later when she finished and Blaise had been watching her the whole time. She'd had felt his eyes and his steadied gaze that kept speaking to her. Nothing audible, just feelings. She wished that he would stop that because it was making it very difficult for her to concentrate on anything but his constant poundings of flattery and innuendo. It was all very disturbing because she had never had that effect on a man before and yet, as plain as day, here Blaise was thinking these feelings for her.

Draco had remained still the entire time and Tia wasn't able to unscramble the code of concentration that was blocking her from his feelings. She could see the jealousy, but nothing else was apparent other than his fuming anger towards Blaise. When six o'clock finally rolled around Draco got up and walked towards his room.

"You leaving?" Blaise asked him, looking from Tia to Draco.

"Yes, I am. And because you were my guest, I must also ask you to leave, unless someone else contradicts me." He looked a Tia expectantly, wanting her to challenge his authority. But she remained silent and then Blaise took the hint and left the two there to muddle things through.

"Draco…" Tia started, not sure of how to begin. She felt as though she should apologize because of what had happened that morning and the thought never occurred to her that she had feelings for her roommate. Wrong feelings for the situation anyways.

"Just forget about it Tia," Draco said abruptly, making his way up the stairs.

Tia sighed and then turned back to her paper, "I thought you'd say that," she said to herself.

She had such a fear of him that she now felt herself trying to move closer. After what she had felt that morning, she couldn't think of anything else. Something inside her sparked and even though he had caught her trying to pull him in, it was almost by accident that it had happened. It caught her as well because she was doing so unknowingly, as if on impulse.

What would her father say to her now? Would he be proud because of these feelings or would he be furious because of the fact she was falling for the person she was supposed to be guarding? Tia didn't know and it would be so nice to hear her father's voice again. But if she made contact with him then her cover might be blown and then she'd be headed nowhere fast. Which was a thought she could not bare to think of.

Tia nodded her head as watched the fire dwindle into embers. In the glowing coals she thought for a second that she saw a face. But that could not be possible after all the precautions that had been taken to prevent something like this. Yet she saw it again, and then again. She rushed forward and then jumped back when a tall dark-haired girl stepped out of the fireplace.

"Margaret!" Tia almost screamed.

"Shhhh," Margaret said immediately, stepping out of her misty form and into her normal teenager look. "You don't want him to come back and find out what your doing talking to no one, do you?"

Tia smiled slightly before embracing her friend. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Your father sent me to check up on you, he was worried that you haven't sent him a letter yet. Something tells me that you've been okay though, but your aura implicates something totally unreal. Are you in love?"

Margaret was the strong, wild child. She was not too discreet about things that were meant to be embarrassing.

"I am not," Tia said back, frustrated that her friend could even think that.

"Where is he?" Margaret asked, searching over Tia's shoulder at the staircase.

"He went to his room," Tia answered.

"What do you think he's doing?"

"Probably hitting his head against the wall," Tia threw at Margaret, sitting back down on the settee and picking up her potions book again.

"Actually no, he's not," replied Margaret, gazing up at the ceiling.

"How can you tell?"

"Cause I can see him."

Tia spun around expecting to see him at the top of the stairs again, but no one was there. There was the ceiling and the walls that separated the common room from the rooms above. "How can you do that?" Tia asked, looking back at Margaret.

"I see through walls," she replied, sitting in the armchair that Draco had just gotten up from.

Tia blinked and then shook her head. This was all too confusing. Margaret could see through walls, turn into black smoke, hook onto a person's aura until the point that they no longer have one and she was always being sent on other peoples business, never her own. "What are you?" Tia asked. "I know it's a rather awkward question but your powers are far more advanced than my own and I'd just like to know how you are the way you are."

Margaret sighed and leaned forward, clasping her hands together and resting her elbows on her knees. "I thought maybe I could avoid it for some time, but I guess the sooner you know the better. I'm a Messenger. I'm a sort of immortal demon. I take messages and summon people to their designated sender. Like that day in the school, I came on behalf of Dumbledore and now I come for your father. I could be described as a guardian, but I think that's too angelic. And the fact that I can suck people's auras out of them isn't too angelic either. It makes me seem that much more of a demon."

"So what your saying is that you are not living?" Tia asked confused though understanding a little.

"In a way yes I am living. But I've been around for a long time and it almost makes me older than anyone else I know. I might even be older than Dumbledore, but that's stretching it."

Margaret's crystal blue eyes shone in the firelight and Tia thought for a moment that she could see something like time flashing for what Margaret saw it as. "Is Margaret your real name?" she asked.

"No more than Tia is yours," was the answer.

Tia sat back into the couch. Someone must have told Margaret about Tia. It was the worst kind of fact, but then sometimes it could be a gift. She was at Hogwarts because of this gift and she had met Margaret because of it. And Draco. It could be a curse when people found out and then when they chose not to accept her for what she really was.

"You can't tell anyone," Tia muttered.

"Who am I gonna tell that doesn't already know?" Tia raised her eyebrows threateningly at Margaret. "Fine, fine, I won't tell anyone. Cross my heart and hope to die." She did the motions and then laughed. "If I could die then it would be something of a present. Kind of like something I've wanted ever since I was declared immortal oh…three hundred years ago."

"You're really that old?" Tia said, hardly thinking it of any real importance.

"Sure, aren't you?"

"I'm as old as I look," Tia replied, furrowing her brow.

"Kind of like your smarter than you look only this happens to be true as well, right?" Margaret smiled and then Tia smiled back. It was good to have a chat with someone other than boys. "I best be off then," Margaret said, standing up and walking to the window.

"Didn't you come in through the fireplace?" Tia asked, confused.

"Sure, but the wind is so much more fun. And besides, why hide in the smoke you become, right?"

"Right. Makes sense."

"I'll be seeing you," Margaret said, taking the step onto the window ledge. She opened the window and felt the autumn breeze on her face.

"Wait," Tia called after her. Margaret stopped and turned back. "What's your real name?"

"Cameron."

"Cameron?"

"Yeah, it was the name I was born with and I think it's so much better than Margaret, right?"

"Definitely," Tia agreed and then watched her friend step out the window and dissolve into nothingness. The smoke spun around and around with the wind and then was gone like the setting sun.

Tia turned from the window and sighed. She walked over to the green and silver settee where her schoolbooks lay and she began to shove them back in her bag. Cameron was a very fascinating person… or demon actually. Anyway, she was truly the most interesting person that Tia had ever met. Before Cameron, Tia's life had been normal…well, more normal at least. Normal wasn't a word that Tia had ever been able to use to describe herself. Nor was anyone else in her family, or in the wizarding world. But she was for sure more strange and gifted than any of the others, with the exception of Cameron.

Tia's thoughts drifted and she went into the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea. There was something strange about that night, something in the manner of the air. She walked about the kitchen and common room, her head alert and cautious. She went over to the window and opened it once more. Stars and the moon were all that Tia could see so she shut the door again. She shut the clasp that held the glass in place and when she turned she nearly screamed in fright.

"Calm down," Draco urged, covering his ears from the high-pitched voice that caught his ears.

Tia got angry and slapped him across the head, "Don't you dare sneak up on me like that again."

"Geez, sorry. I guess I thought you heard me coming when you actually didn't."

"No, I didn't hear you. But that doesn't mean you sneak up behind me and then frighten me half to death." Tia pushed past him and made her way to the stairs but he stopped her when she hit the first step.

"Where are you going?"

"Where do you think I'm going, you moron?"

Draco put his hand on her shoulder, which made her jump slightly, and grasped it hard, "No one speaks to me like that."

"Really?" Tia said sarcastically, shrugging his tight grasp off, "Well I just did." She shoved past him but he followed her on the narrow staircase.

"You're mad at me?" Draco stated.

"Yes," Tia agreed, though not really meaning it. She just needed to get away from him, but she wasn't proving to be too successful.

"Let me apologize."

Tia spun on him and she was an inch from his face. She glared into his cold gray-blue eyes and said, "Then apologize to me. Say you're sorry for your arrogance, lack of knowledge and damn-straight foolish attitude." When he didn't answer and just kept staring at her she said, "That's what I thought."

She'd been challenging him, trying to make him say things that would declare her the winner. And she for sure had won. He was everything she said he was. She marched up the remaining stairs, still being followed by the blonde-haired boy.

"You've got nerve," he yelled at her, following her into her dark room.

"I've got more nerve than you have," she taunted back.

He slammed the bedroom door making the darkness swallow the two of them and prowled across the floor toward her. Her eyes were very equipped to the dark and so she saw his ever move. His walk did not intimidate her, nor by the way he looked at her. There was nothing more fascinating that a man who was determined to get what he wanted, and it was also somewhat humorous when it happened to be a man who would never get it. Draco would be disappointed because he was not going to be handed his trophy so easily. He got to the close proximity of a foot from her, just within arms length. She took action and smacked him across the face.

His face turned at the impact of the hand and then he spun back on her.

"What's wrong Draco," she teased, "Cat's got your tongue?"

He made a motion to punch her in the stomach and when she went to block it he detoured and retaliated the backhanded slap across her face. His strength was something she had not been prepared for so she ended up falling back to the ground.

"Never talk to me like that you little bitch," he growled at her.

"Or what Draco, huh? What are you going to do against me? You need me."

"I don't need you," Draco denied, watching as she pulled herself up with the dresser behind her, "I don't need anyone, especially not you."

"Prove it," she spat at him.

He watched her straighten herself and then throw her long golden hair over her shoulder defiantly. She was the loveliest woman he had ever met and she had more guts than most women who had caught his eye. She was brave and bold, and far too beautiful to be trying to tease him. He stalked forward in three strides and caught her up against the dresser. His hands caught hers and he thrust his knee between her thighs, making her breath quicken.

"Your just the same," he murmured into her ear, nuzzling his nose against her neck. "You are the same as any other girl. I can bend and twist you to my will. And I can prove it. When I kiss you, your breath will stop and your heart will race, which tells me, not only do I not need you, but that you cannot stop me."

"I don't deny that I am physically attracted to you Draco," Tia said, pushing him back from her to see his face, "but you need me as much as I need you, there's no denying that." She pushed him back harder, making him fall over his own feet to the floor.

Quickly he rose and watched her every move. She prowled closer and closer to him and had one thing in mind. She needed to end this now before her hormones took hold of her, before his charm and appeal won her over.

No such luck.

He came at her and at the exact right moment too. She had moved all the way around the room to the end of her bed and he sprung at her. He thrust her back and they both fell backwards onto the bed.

"What are you doing?" Tia asked as Draco weaseled his hand up around her neck.

"I am making sure you don't win."

His lips crushed hers and as his hands explored her ample body, her arms wrapped themselves around his neck, purely unconsciously for Tia. Draco brushed little butterfly kisses down her neck towards her collarbone and then ripped open the top of her shirt.

"Stop it Draco," she whispered, not really trying to make him stop. All she could think about was his rough, but careful, touch and the kisses that made her heart flutter.

Draco threw open her shirt and held himself up to look at her. Her eyes were closed and she was no longer fighting him. He had won and there was no doubt about that. But would he continue or leave her be to prove his point. He wanted desperately to leave and feel the victory and triumph of his coldness, but then he also wanted to ravish her beyond her wildest dreams, and he could probably succeed. He chose the latter and lifted her up into a sitting position.

"Open your eyes and look at me," Draco whispered in a low growl.

Tia did so and watched as he too unbuttoned his shirt. Her hands automatically went up to where his fingers were fiddling with his buttons. His fingers fell and she continued the motion of taking his shirt off. It fell in a pearly white heap on the floor and her hands caressed his muscular chest. His arms went once more around her and she began to kiss his neck. His numb fingers played with her bra clasp and let it fall between the two of them. He reached down once more and kissed her passionately and delicately. There was fire between the two of them and nothing could stop what happened next. Nothing in the world would part the two of them at that moment.


	4. The Trouble With Love

Chapter Four: The Trouble with Love

Draco woke the next morning with his arm curled around Tia's small body. Such a beautiful and miraculous body made him shiver at the sight of it. He carefully slid his arm out from underneath her and sat at the edge of the bed.

How could he have let this get so far out of hand? He had proved his point long before actually sleeping with her. Even with her willingness to the deed, he had won. Yet he had continued out of want; out of desire. It was something that he had never kept under control. And now, having slept with her, he'd always be thinking about her body, and the way it fit with his, like a perfect fit between two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. It was so far out of wack now that he had no idea where to turn next.

He got up off the bed and walked out the door into the bathroom across the hall. He climbed into the shower and turned it on the coldest setting. This would no doubt awaken him from the nightmare he was currently having. When he'd washed and dried himself though, he found that the nightmare was in fact quite real. He had no choice now but to stay with her or it would drive him insane. It had been that way when he saw Blaise with her, it was as if the jealousy hit him like a speeding bus. Tia was his now, and Blaise would never get any closer to her.

He went down to the common room and grabbed himself a cup of coffee, black, from the fresh pot. It rolled down his throat warm and strong, just the thing to perk him up for the long day ahead.

When Tia woke, she found herself alone and feeling the after glow of the night before. She sat up in bed and put her head in her hands. How could she have let him go so far? Was it part of the plan? What could she possibly have been thinking?

Lust. It must have been the lust she felt for him. He was so irresistible and delectable that she could not say no. And he had been offering himself to her freely so she could not stop herself. It was not even through her own powers that she made him do what he did. He had done it by himself, and she had gone along with it readily.

She snuck to her closet and pulled out her housecoat. It was only the second day and already she had the dull feeling that she would not make it to any of her classes that day. There were more important things to take care of at that moment that even her classes didn't bother her. At that moment, she had to contact Cameron, immediately. It was a desperate situation and she could not tell her father, nor could she tell anyone else. Had Harry been there she would have definitely told him, or even Ron or Hermione. But they were not there, and probably never would be again. So Cameron was her only choice and it was a wise choice at that. Cameron would understand because she found Draco hot as well, who wouldn't?

She flung on a pair of jeans and clasped her coat around her shoulders. She flew out of the room and down the stairs. She ignored Draco in the kitchen and made her way to the Owlery. Her owl would be there, able to be fed and looked after when she was at school, or…um…busy.

She shuffled through the fallen leaves and made her way towards the tower. It was large and quite adequate to quarter the many birds that student brought with them. She trudged up the many flights of steps to the top where her bird resided. At the top she was about to enter the room when she bumped into another student. He had brown hair, rather large ears and slightly oversized front teeth.

"Oh, sorry," he said as he tried to pass her.

"No problem," she replied. She recognized him. She did not know why, but she did. "What's your name?"

"Neville," he replied hastily.

"Neville?" she tested on her tongue. She was sure she had never used that name before in her life. "Have we met before?"

"Um…I don't think so. You're new right?"

"Yeah. I could've sworn I've seen you before."

Neville just stared blankly at her. Up until that moment she had not looked directly into his eyes. But once their eyes met, he held the gaze and she was swarmed with feelings and images. They were strong, which was very unusual. Had it been someone else she would have had to look away, but his thoughts were controlled. There was no visible pain other than the loss of his parents. Other pain was minimal like getting burns and boils off of some potion or another he had incorrectly concocted. Then she realized where she had seen him before.

"You're Neville Longbottom, aren't you?" she said outright.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Nevermind," she said turning from him.

"Wait," he called after her. "Wait a minute. How did you know my last name?"

"Nevermind. I must've seen it somewhere else, like on a trophy in the trophy room or something," she lied, and very poorly.

"I've never won any trophies," he informed her.

Damnit! She thought. She'd been caught. She knew it was a bad idea to ask him who he was. She turned towards him and once more caught his eye. There was confusion and affection, but not for her. For someone else, someone who'd left Hogwarts. He watched her closely and she saw even more. There was someone, a woman, strong and dark. She was cackling high and loud. The woman in the image released a curse and it struck whom she was aiming at. At this point Tia cried out in pain and pulled away. She fell to her knees and cradled her head in her hands.

"What happened?" Neville asked, kneeling down beside her. "What's wrong?"

Tia rocked back and forth, shaking her head in pain. It had been bad pain, almost as bad as when she locked onto Harry's mind, only she had to search for this pain.

She then heard a new voice that was full of concern, "Tia, what's wrong?"

Tia looked up and saw the familiar face of her friend. "Margaret," she cried, getting up and running to her.

Margaret held Tia softly and rubbed her golden hair smooth. "Sshh, it's okay, Tia. It wasn't real."

"What's wrong with her?" Neville asked, getting up from his kneeling position on the ground.

"She gets really bad headaches all of a sudden and they make her scream out like that," Margaret lied.

"Oh," replied Neville, frowning slightly.

"You can go now," Margaret, informed him, "She'll be fine."

"Okay, bye then."

Neville left and walked down the stairs. As soon as Margaret was convinced he had gone, she pulled Tia from her shoulder.

"What did you see?" she asked her.

"I saw…I saw something horrible." Tia shook with fright, it was something that she wished she'd never seen. Whoever invented that curse should be locked away in jail for the rest of their lives.

"What, what was it?" Margaret urged.

"I saw a woman…she was producing a curse. It hurt so much. There is no pain that can equal it."

Margaret sighed and nodded, "You saw the Cruciatus curse. It is the torture curse. Neville's parents were driven insane with that curse and now they currently reside in St. Mungos Hospital in London, in the insanity wing. You should never have seen that."

"Why?" Tia asked her friend, "I've seen worse, it's just been so long."

"The last time you saw something like that was when you saw Harry right?"

"Yes, how'd you know?"

"I could just tell. You've seen something worse that what Neville's parents had to go through and the only thing worse would be what Harry's parents had been through, and even Harry himself. Such a troubled young man." Margaret lowered her head and her face was obscured by her curtain of hair.

"Have you ever met Harry?" Tia asked as she could sense an iron shield coming up around Margaret.

Margaret turned away from Tia and walked out to the top of the stairs of the Owlery. "I did once," she replied.

"What happened?"

"He would not remember me. It was almost three years ago, in his fourth year. It was at the Quidditch World Cup when the Dark Mark had been produced. I had been sent there to find another man, someone from the ministry. I was to give him a message from a woman on the other side of the camp, a strong and powerful woman who had the courage to summon me easily. I went into the bustle of witches and wizards that were thronging towards the stadium. I found the wizard I was sent for and he went on his way to the woman who'd sent the message. I was watching the game and when it was over I was supposed to return home and wait for the next summoning. But then the dark mark appeared and everything went wrong…"

****

_Margaret looked up into the sky and saw it…the Dark Mark, the sign of Lord Voldemort. The shouting and yelling began and people started to run every which way. To escape the rushing people she ran in the same direction. Her mind was reeling. She needed to get out of there. _

_She reached a low wood and crouched down low to avoid the running people. But not before someone grabbed her arm and pulled her with them._

"_You need to get out of here," he said in his agitated voice._

"_Yeah, I know that," Margaret replied abruptly._

_"Then why in the hell were you crouched by that tree?"_

_"I was trying to get away from all the people. I hate being in such big crowds."_

_He stopped and faced her. Even in the dark she could make out his features. They were beautiful and they would definitely make a handsome man when he grew bigger. "Then why the hell did you come to the World Cup? Didn't you know there would be people here? A lot of people!"_

_Margaret couldn't help but blush. "I only came for a minute or two and then I was about to leave, but then that appeared," she pointed at the Dark Mark, "and everyone began to run around."_

_"Oh, okay. Did you come with someone else? Where are they?" he looked around over her shoulder and then behind him, trying to see whom she could have possible come with. _

_"I came alone," she told him._

_"What? All by yourself. You don't look old enough."_

_"Thank you for that, I'll bet any money I'm older than you are," she said to him._

_He pulled her away from the running people and she sat down on a fallen down log._

_"What's your name?" he asked her, also sitting on the fallen log._

_"Margaret," she replied._

_"Really? You don't look like a Margaret."_

_She turned and looked into his brilliant green eyes. She recognized them and his aura was pulsing many different colors. She could see the pain and anger, but it was pleasing and not frightening. She could've helped him change that fact, but she had to let it be. It was an important part of his future. His pain would be his victory._

"_I'm Harry," he introduced._

_"Hi," she said, taking his hand in a formal handshake._

_There was a rustle of leaves behind them and they both turned to look. It was dark so they could see nothing. Margaret could see a dim aura pulsing but it wasn't human. She then took her chance where Harry was distracted. _

_"I have to go," she whispered in his ear. And by the time he turned back she was gone._

_****_

"And I morphed into my mist form and left him there," Margaret finished.

Tia sighed and then smiled at Margaret. "So you haven't seen him since then?"

"I have, but he hasn't seen me. It'd be kind of difficult to just show up and say hello to a boy I left by himself all those years ago."

"Yeah, but if you like him…" Tia began, but stopped. There was nothing else to say. She could see that Margaret liked Harry, a lot, and the only thing to do about it was to wait things out and let destiny take its true course.

"So, you were about to send me a letter, right?" Margaret said, turning to face Tia.

"Yeah," Tia blushed, remembering what she was going to tell Margaret.

"What happened between you and Draco?" she asked as if psychic.

"Well…" and she told Margaret about what happened the other night. It felt good to get it off her chest, but then at the same time she felt awkward because she'd never told anyone about sleeping with another person before.

When she'd finished, Margaret was beaming at her. "Don't look at me like that," Tia told her. "It's not funny."

"I'm not laughing," Margaret told her. "I'm happy for you. It's good. Doesn't that mean you'll be able to do your job that much easier. If you're his girlfriend and he's that much into you, then you'll be able to keep tabs on him more effectively. Isn't that right?"

Tia nodded her head, "That would be to my advantage. But Margaret, it's not only me who can make him feel like that, he can control me easily too. Like when he pulled away in the shower. He could tell I was controlling him."

"Were you?" Margaret asked, shocked a little.

'Yes…but it wasn't consciously. I didn't know I was doing it. It was like, I don't know."

"You want to know what that sounds like to me?"

"Do I have a choice?" Tia asked, hesitantly because she knew what her friend was going to say next.

"No, not really. It sounds like you're in love."

Tia stomped her foot on the stone step and said, "Damnit, I am not in love with him. There is no way in hell that I could be."

"Fine," Margaret said, not the slightest moved by Tia's outburst, "have it your way, but I still think its love."

"You do that. But I refuse to believe it. There is no logical answer to it."

"There never is," Margaret explained calmly and in kind of a daze. "Is there logic behind the way I feel for Harry when I barely know him? Is there logic behind why the sun rises and sets?"

"Point taken," Tia mumbled softly, leaning on the stone ledge of the steps.

The two of them just stood there watching whatever they could see. Tia could see the classes go into session and then get out at a different time. Her teachers would be disappointed that she had missed the second day, but she didn't care. Even though she should.

"I guess I'd better get going," Margaret answered, pulling her long ebony hair into a ponytail. "I have to be home in order to do my job. It I don't do my job then I have no hope of ever being free of it."

"What do you mean?" Tia asked, facing her friend.

"I've got a contract to be a messenger for three hundred and eleven years. It was some stupid deal I made back when I was a teenager, which is why I still look like this. I've got almost a year left to continue being a messenger and then I get to go back to being a normal person. I'll still have my original powers but I won't have to go all over the world asking some crazy wizard at a club what they want for dinner, a message from their wife."

Tia laughed, "You actually have to do that?"

"If the people summon me, I have no choice but to obey."

"That sucks!"

"Tell me about it." She got up onto the ledge and turned back to Tia, "Hasta Manyana chica."

"Manyana," Tia answered.

Margaret slowly faded into her smoke form and then drifted away on the midday breeze. Tia watched the smoke disappear behind the clouds and actually felt better than she had waking up.

She walked slowly down the stone steps of the Owlery and headed back to the castle. She walked in and crossed the Entrance Hall.

"Wait a moment Ms. McPherson," came a voice from behind her. It was well after the lunch now and class was in session.

"What, pray tell are you doing out of class?" McGonagall said, coming in front of her now.

"I wasn't feeling well professor so I took a walk," she said, which was partially true.

"I don't recall seeing you in my morning class," McGonagall said, "Why is that?"

"I did not sleep very well and I fell asleep at three this morning so I guess I overslept."

"Clearly you don't have a regard for the rules," the tight-lipped woman said, folding her arms across her chest.

"I have the highest regard professor," Tia replied, "But like I said, I wasn't feeling well."

"Miss McPherson please follow me to my office," McGonagall said abruptly.

Minerva McGonagall was one of the few teachers still at Hogwarts that was loyal to the Order. She knew that Tia was only posing as a student on Dumbledore's last orders and she was convinced that Tia was good for the cause. Her distaste for her at the moment was only due to the fact that the other, newer professors, were watching them.

Tia followed McGonagall up to her office and she was offered a seat in front of the desk. McGonagall followed behind her and shut the door tight. She then performed a few spells to ensure they weren't walked in on or heard from the other side.

"Tia," she began, sitting down in her chair behind the desk, "you are very dear to me, and very dear to the late great Albus Dumbledore clearly, but this should not be happening so soon. You are supposed to go to class and do your homework on top of your other…hehemm…duties."

"I know Minerva," Tia said, dropping her head and also her formalities with it. "I truly wasn't feeling well. I met Neville this morning in the Owlery and I just…"

Minerva understood quite well because she had been informed of Tia's skills before she allowed her into the school. "I know, dear," she said, leaning forward onto her desk. "It must've been something awful to see, but that doesn't give you precedence over the other students to skip class."

"I understand," Tia replied, looking back up at the aging woman.

"Good, now I'll give you a note that gives you my permission to skip the rest of your classes with the understanding that you shall return tomorrow. Is that understood?"

"Yes," Tia replied shortly. She did not have a lot of affection for Minerva, but she was the closest thing to Albus Dumbledore left. Any other faculty member would not have been so lenient.

"Off you go then," McGonagall said, handing Tia the small piece of parchment with scrawled writing on it. She then pointed her wand wordlessly at the door and there was a small click. The charms were disabled and Tia opened the door, walked through it and then closed it behind her.

She walked slowly back to the common room, thankfully not intercepted by any other teachers or students.


	5. The End to Fun and Games

Chapter Five: The End To Fun and Games

Draco had gone to all his classes and each one expected to see Tia, but didn't. He had not seen her since she ran out that morning. He had a spare period between his Potions and Charms so he'd gone back to the common room, once more to find it devoid of Tia. He sat down at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and was about to go out and look for her when she came bursting through the portrait.

"Where have you been?" he asked immediately, but then upon seeing her disheveled manner and annoyed face he retreated.

"What are you, my mother?" she retorted angrily, wanting very much to disappear at that moment.

"No I'm not your mother," he replied, frustrated at her reaction, "but you've missed every class and I was counting on your notes for the assignments."

"Ha," Tia said, throwing her hands up in the air. "You expect to copy off me? Think again mister," she added, putting her hands on her hips, "If you want to graduate, then you better do your own fucking work."

She threw off her cloak and thumped herself on the couch in front of the fireplace.

Draco walked over to her slowly, and cautiously because he had no idea what she was capable of when she was that angry. He was directly behind her when she finally spoke again. "What do you want Draco? Really want?"

Draco didn't know how to answer this so he paused for a minute. The silence that hung was loud and uncomfortable. Her question had been rhetorical because she really wasn't expecting an answer. But he was going to give her an answer…as soon as he thought of one that is.

"Sit beside me," her voice called over the couch. He moved delicately and snakelike to the other side of the couch. Her eyes were closed and she held herself very openly. Her arms were just hanging there and her legs were crossed at the ankles.

Draco sat beside her, closer than she had wanted. What had provoked him to follow her orders was beyond him. It was probably the way she had said it, a lost and lonely plea towards him.

"Tia," he whispered, not sure of how to continue.

She opened her eyes and she looked into his. They were the same grey-blue, but there were not as cold as they had been. He was looking at her with affection, something she had never guessed him to have.

His hand snaked over the back of the couch and inched its way towards her shoulder. She turned her head and was barely aware of the cool fingers that stroked her cheek. "You asked me what I wanted," he said, repeating her question slightly. "I want you."

Tia gulped before speaking, "Do you admit you need me?" she asked.

"I'll need you as long as you need me," he admitted quietly and with much shame for his own action. "But promise me one thing."

"What?" she asked, hesitant at his question.

"Don't try to control me. I know you can, but I will come to you when you need me and when I need you. Will you promise not to control me?"

She licked her lips slowly and considered the question. She would agree to it only if he promised not to prevent her from doing her job, but she could not tell him that. "I promise."

Draco smiled slightly, almost smugly as if he had just uncovered a secret. His hand moved from Tia's cheek to her collarbone. He shuffled over slightly so their thighs were touching. His head moved in to take the kiss and she obliged by also moving her head towards him. The kiss was soft and welcoming because of what Tia had just been through. She hated to think about what Draco would do if he found out she was just using him. That was not entirely true though because she did feel strongly for him. It was kind of like she had an advantage either way.

His other had moved to the side of her head and he deepened the kiss. Then his hands moved down her body to her thighs. He lifted her left leg and brought it over onto him so she was straddling him now. They never broke the lip-lock for a second. It was a constant kiss that they were both going head first into. His hands fiddled with her buttons again and she did not resist. The shirt was open and to his great delight, she had chosen a different bra that unclasped at the front instead of the back. He was about to unclasp it when her hand stopped him.

She pulled back from his lips and smiled at Draco. He wanted her so badly that she could feel his fingers shake. "Do you want to do this now?" she asked him, taking his shaking fingers in her hands. She pulled them to her mouth sucked on each of them seductively, Draco moaned in pleasure as she did so.

"Yes. God yes Tia. I want you now."

"But you have a class to go to," she said defiantly, though not really thinking he would care.

"So what," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist.

She giggled slightly and ran her fingers through his hair. "Give me a minute then," she urged, forcing herself from his grasp.

Draco watched her get up and walk into the kitchen. Could this be happening so soon after last night? He could feel the burn and knew for sure that he needed this. He needed her.

She came out from the kitchen still wearing her pants and unbuttoned shit. She calmly went around to all of the windows and pulled the heavy, velvet green curtains across the window. It was nearly three o'clock so the sun was still high in the sky. She pulled them across and flung the room into darkness. The fire had died down and Draco's eyes could not adjust in time to see her come to him again.

Her hand took hold of his hair gently and he reached out blindly to touch her. He caught her waist and then worked his way up to her chest. Before he could touch anything she grasped his hand pulled him to his feet. His arm went around her waist and she whispered, "Show me the way."

He never released her waist and took her gently around the couch and went slowly up the stairs. He was about to go into her room when she stopped him. "That's not the way," she told him softly.

"Then you show _me_ the way," he said back.

"Okay."

She turned and kept going further down the hall towards his room. She turned the knob and threw the door open. The room was dark and luckily the drapes were pulled across the windows.

His hand stopped her before she entered. He spun her around and kissed her again on the lips. This time though it was passionate and wanton. Her arms curled around his neck and he pulled her from the ground, wrapping her legs around his waist. He walked into his room and at the side of the bed she dropped her legs once more.

"Sit down," she said, pushing him gently onto the bed. He sat there and watched as she pulled her shirt off fully and left herself with only her bra and pants on. Then Tia went closer to him. His hands reached instinctively to the waist of her jeans. He pulled the button apart, undid the zipper, and slid the jeans off her hips. She stepped out of them and then motioned for him to undo his own. He did so and let them fall to the floor with her jeans.

With only his boxers on his bottom half and his school shirt on his top-half she straddled him once more. She pulled the buttons from his shirt and removed his shirt from his amazing arms.

He kissed her again on the mouth before moving down her neck towards her chest. At her collarbone his hands went up to the front of her bra and pulled it off.

"How much do you want me?" he asked.

"As much as the sun needs to rise and set each day."

He turned her over so he was on top of her. His smile was contagious and full of laughter. "Good," he replied before kissing her again.

****

When she woke up at midnight she hardly knew where she was. It was dark and the only other thing she was aware of was the man beside her with his silver-blonde hair strewn across his handsome face. Tia had known this would happen and she had not really done anything to stop it. Yes, she had wanted this and her words had been true that she had wanted him so much, yet she could not justify her actions with any logical thinking.

She slid off the side of the bed and grabbed a shirt off the floor. She tiptoed over to the door and opened it only so much that she could wedge her small figure through. When she was finally in the hallway she put the shirt on and realized that it was his instead of hers. She shrugged into it, not really caring, just as long as she had something to wear. She walked delicately down the hall and then down the stairs. The oversized shirt swayed with her body and clung to her bare skin beneath it.

She grabbed a spare elastic she had left on the coffee table by the fire and tied her messy hair on a tail behind her head. She then looked around for her wand. She found it in her school bag underneath her potions book. She pointed it at the fire and suddenly fire leapt onto the hearth and it lit up the room.

She turned and walked into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and bent over to the crisper. She pulled out an apple and sat down at the kitchen table.

The floor creaked just outside the kitchen door and Tia's head snapped up to look. Draco's body came around the corner. He'd thrown on a pair of black pajama pants and still had his chest bare.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she answered, quite low compared to the way he had spoken to her.

He dragged a chair around beside her and sat down. "You sure? You look pale."

"Do I really?" she said sarcastically. "Funny, you don't look much better yourself."

"Oh, ha ha. Did my workout tire you?" he smirked, spreading into a wide grin.

"No, not really," she answered softly, "I just wasn't feeling well."

"Okay then, if your positive," he agreed, getting up and walking over to the fridge. He pulled it open and said, "God, isn't there anything to eat in here?"

"What're you looking for?" Tia asked, honestly referring to his stomach.

"What're you offering," he replied smugly, pulling his head out of the fridge to look at her.

"Food, Draco, edible food that you can actually eat. I wasn't offering myself up as the main course."

He came over to her and pulled her into his arms, apple still in her hand. "Aw," he fake whined, "Can't I have you as an appetizer?"

She walked out of his grasp and over to the fridge. "You had me as an appetizer. You need something a little more stable if you want me for dessert."

"Is that an offer?" he asked prowling closer to her.

She yanked open the fridge and stopped him where he stood, "Perhaps," she answered. "Now what were you looking for?"

"I don't know," Draco replied, staying behind the fridge door.

"Well that, I can't help you with."

"Let me look again," he said, smiling smugly as he came around the other side of the door. He looked into the fridge and nothing really caught his eye. Their fridge wasn't really all that stocked, just with the essentials incase they wanted a snack. "I could probably go for an omelet, you want one?"

"A culinary man, I like it. I'll help."

"So that means you want one?" he clarified, pulling out the milk and carton of eggs.

"Yes please," Tia said, batting her eyes and pouting her lip.

"Don't do that," Draco urged her.

"Why not?"

"Because you drive me crazy when you do that."

She went over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She then pouted her lips and batted her eyes again, purposely doing it to drive him insane. "You mean like this?"

Draco shook his head defiantly before taking her lips with his own. He then pulled back and placed his hand under her chin. "Yes, when you do that. Now help me or you won't get fed."

She released him and smiled inwardly. She enjoyed this immensely and it was only going to get better.

****

"This is the best omelet that I have ever tasted," Tia exclaimed after the first few bites.

"That's because yours probably has some of the egg shell in it that you put there from your lousy cracking," Draco said, sitting across from her at the table.

"I do not have lousy cracking thank you very much," Tia stated, putting her fork down and pushing her plate away, "and if you're going to be critical about my cooking then I might as well not eat your food."

"Sit down and eat it, you know you want to," Draco pressed, pushing her plate back in front of her. She did take the plate back and shoveled in the rest of the egg in less than five minutes. When she had finished she pushed the plate back at him and then pouted her lips and batted her eyes at him from across the table.

He put his plate down on the table, hard, and looked squarely at her. She was teasing him again. "What's wrong Draco?" Tia purred from across the table, "Cat's got your tongue?"

"No, I'm just waiting for the cat instincts to pass," he replied, getting up and taking their two plates to the sink. He placed then inside the basin and was acutely aware of her sneaking up behind him. He spun on the spot and said, "Ha!" with his hands out like claws.

"Is that supposed to be scary?" Tia laughed putting her hands on her hips.

"It was, but I guess I'll have to use a different tactic," Draco admitted, prowling closer and closer to his prey, Tia.

"What do you think you're doing?" Tia said, backing into the fridge, trapped with nowhere to go.

"What would you like me to do?" he answered with his own question.

Tia turned her head sideways, not looking at him directly in the face before thinking of the next play. "Close your eyes," she told him.

He did not like that idea, "But then you'll run away," he whined.

"Boohoo," Tia imitated, rubbing her eyes with her fists, "Come on, you know you want to."

"What's the reward?"

"Whatever your little heart desires, but you're not allowed to touch me until I say," she replied smartly, now developing her confidence up once more. There were momentary lapses of Tia's confidence level when there was sometimes so little she was cowering and sometimes so much that she overpowers herself. Right now though she had the exact amount of confidence and humor to take anything, including her new lover.

"I can't touch you?" Draco said incredulously. "That's no fun."

"Until it tell you you can then no, it won't be any fun, so close your eyes."

Draco huffed but closed his eyes. He could feel her wiggle by her and out of the kitchen. He could tell that the lights in the kitchen had been switched off so his world was plunged into more darkness.

"You can open your eyes again," Tia yelled at him from in the living room. He opened his eyes and all he could see was black.

He felt around for the door and went through it. There was no fire and no candles lit. It was just a world of darkness. He came to the back of the couch with oomph as he hit it with his pelvis. There was a giggle from behind him and he spun on the spot. "I know you're there," he called out to her.

"_Then find me_," came a whisper that sounded like it'd been brought in on a wind.

Directed in the path the voice had come from, Draco followed it but hit a dead end.

"_Find me," _came the voice again.

This was starting to frighten Draco a little, though he was no stranger to the dark. He'd lived his entire life in a black space that was designated all to himself. But since meeting Tia…since making love to Tia, his life had been thrown into a world of light, except for now.

Tia was hidden tight against the wall, concealing herself quite well with the black surroundings. She saw Draco walk by once or twice before tiptoeing behind him and jumping on his back. "Gotcha," she proclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Now they were not expecting what came next, and quite frankly, no one would. Without warning or motive, a strange thing happened. There came a flash of light from out the window and Draco turned to look, spinning Tia with him. There was a loud bang and the window shattered into a dozen pieces. Draco fell to the floor, taking Tia with him. They fell and just as they were about to lose consciousness, a vile fell on the floor. It was a glass vile with a piece of parchment in it.

Tia noticed the vile and, forcing herself from going unconscious, she grabbed it. She pulled the cork that held the parchment in the tube. She pulled it out and though she could not see anything else, she could read the words.

She did not know whom they were directed at, but all the same, the words sent chills up her spine. She handed it to Draco who had also prevented himself from losing consciousness. He took it from her and read it:

I know who you are, and I know who you are not. And you are

_not who you pretend to be._


	6. The Legend of Crimson Heart

Chapter Six: The Legend of Crimson Heart

"I don't know where it came from professor, it just blasted through our window; like a rocket you might say."

Professor McGonagall peered over her spectacles, still holding the vile, at Tia. Tia had gone to the professor immediately after the note had appeared. Taking off her glasses, Minerva looked at Tia and Draco Malfoy. Both had come, though she had no idea why Draco had. "What is a rocket?"

"Oh, it's a muggle invention that is able to fly to the moon and back, not even burning up on re-entree, most of the time. Its got almost nothing to do with this other than the trajectory for that object had to have been pretty precise for the person to get it in through out window. Was anyone in the grounds after?"

"Not that we could tell, Miss McPherson, but we shall see. Now," she said, turning to Draco, "you can return to the common room, I'd like to speak to Miss McPherson privately.

Draco had hardly said anything since getting there. What was in the vile had been something of a shock to him because there was nothing he was pretending to be; he was just being himself, and that obviously was bothering someone. Unless the note had been intended for Tia, which the professor must think it was or else she would have asked questions of them both.

Draco rose from his chair and walked to the door, once more looking back at Tia. She smiled lightly at him and he exited.

"Tia," Minerva said, after she had cast the spells on the door just making sure no one could intrude, "what does this note mean? I know you know, and I know you are not the ordinary girl. Dumbledore would not pick an ordinary girl to protect something this valuable, to both sides of this war."

Tia sighed and got up from her chair. She wandered around the room, looking anywhere but at Minerva. She had been avoiding this conversation since she had gotten into the Order. She hated what she had been through and she hated that it was far from over. And now she had to relive something she had almost forgotten. It had been nearly ten years since anything like this had happened, and last time it had been worse.

"Tia, please, I can help you if only you'll tell me."

Tia made her way back to her chair. She sat down once more and sighed heavily. "Have you ever heard about the Crimson Heart?"

"It's a jewel or something, likely a myth."

"It's no myth, and it's no jewel. Crimson Heart is a legend that dates back to the thirteenth century. When Arthur chose his knights of the round table, Merlin also chose apprentices. He chose twenty seven apprentices and they began their training and magical instruction. For many years they prospered and Camelot was one of the most powerful cities of all England. But chaos erupted as the Saxons came, and with them came the new magic and native art.

'One such man, under the instruction of Merlin, was intrigued by the new magic and 'art' that the Saxons brought. A native art, the Saxons called it, happened to be women who used their magic for control and shape shifting.

'This man fell in love with one of the women. After that, the controversy of the two sides made it completely impossible for the two to have a normal relationship. So they only spent one night together. One night in which the Saxon woman, Harmony was her name, was able to conceive a child. Now with the combined magic of the two, this child was very strong and powerful, even at such a small age, and both sides knew that well. Yet neither sides sought her out. They let her be.

'During the child's lifetime she learned her mother's art and the Saxon ways. But when her mother finally told her about her father, the child went to find him. Over those years in between being conceived and going to find her father, the father had gotten greater at his magic and was now considered a step passed Merlin. Merlin was old and withering and Francis took over at the king's side, but not for long as the Saxons were growing in numbers and Arthur would soon loose a great battle.

'Charity found her father and he could hardly believe she was his, but there was the resemblance in magic and in spirit. So Charity was taught by her father for a number of years, not seeing her mother the entire time. She somehow thought that Harmony had betrayed her for keeping her father from her all this years so the years with her father made up for it.

'At the end of his magical career, at the downfall of Camelot with the Saxons, Francis passed on a treasure to Charity that not even king Arthur had seen. It was a gift from Merlin himself, called the Heart of Hearts."

Tia paused there for a moment, thinking back on the legend. She had not thought of it for months, until now.

"Please continue," Minerva urged.

"The Heart of Hearts is not an object, but rather a magical bequest passed from father to daughter. It gives the carrier the power to live one life over and over again, the gift of immortality. Charity did not use the gift in her lifetime, but rather she gave it to her husband, a Norman, one who had long lived in Camelot. Her husband had no magical qualities and nothing made him extraordinary to the others, but still, Charity saw in him something that no one else could. She saw a life; a man with life hidden inside him. And so Charity gave the Heart of Hearts, which he took in the shape and form of a child. The new life she saw. Charity grew and nourished the womb, but she had carried the gift and now it was time to let it pass. Charity died in childbirth. And I am that child."

The shocked look on McGonagall's face said it all. "But that's impossible. How could you be that child? That was over six hundred years ago."

"The Heart gives the gift of life to its carrier. I have had that gift for six hundred years, not ever giving it a chance to take another. Some could say I'm greedy. Others could say that I have never found the right person to give it to."

"Well which is it?" McGonagall urged once more, wanting to figure this entire puzzle out.

"Neither. I have found someone to give it to, many times. But there is always one person in my way, and he has many spies everywhere. Lando Falconi is not one to be reckoned with, and he has held his ground for six hundred years."

"Who is Lando Falconi?"

"He is the one man I could have given the Heart to, but that was exactly what he had intended. He is almost like Lord Voldemort, but he has lived successfully for six hundred or more years. He was the worst of Merlin's apprentices and he was kicked out of the Brotherhood when discovered. He was there to gain possession of the Heart, but he failed then, and he has failed ever since."

"How does he know you're here?" Minerva asked, still holding the vile.

"He has many spies and I have no detection of them. I may be quite skilled, but even after six hundred years, I am not as good as he is. Especially when I have not encountered him for ten years or more. I cannot expect a move from him after all this time and know it to an exact point."

There was a long pause while Minerva considered those words. "Then why did Dumbledore assign you to guard the object within Hogwarts?"

"Because he figured that Hogwarts would be the last place that Falconi would look, but I guess he was wrong. He also must've thought that because I have lived for the time and saw Hogwarts in it's glory days, I could help in the protection and safekeeping of it's walls. Many a great men have been known to make mistakes. Merlin made tons of them and I should know, my grandfather was his student." Tia could hardly believe that she was putting humor into this grave situation. She had had many encounters with Lando before and none of them had been pretty. Many of them she had escaped on pure chance.

"Tia?" Minerva asked.

"Yes?"

"What is the object within Hogwarts that You-Know-Who had hidden?"

"I know what it is, and Harry knows what it is, but neither of us can tell, we made sure of it. To ensure that it would be safe, my father, my posing father, made the Unbreakable Vow between Harry and I. So there's no telling now."

"Oh. Your posing father, you said? Who is he?"

"Roger McPherson, a great man whom I met when he was sixteen. He has found it rather difficult to adjust to calling me his daughter, but when he was little he was fascinated with the history of wizards. He grew to become a Wizarding Historian so he helps out as best he can. He has been a very good friend and father-like figure to me."

"I see. Then this vile," she said, holding up the vile containing the parchment, "was meant for you?"

"Yes. The writing is familiar though I have never met the one who penned it. I'll bet whoever they are, they must be Falconi's right-hand man."

"You must not tell Draco, you hear me?" Minerva said, switching back to her firm and sinister voice.

"I'm not going to tell him until I need to," Tia replied, aware that McGonagall would not like that very much.

"You shan't tell anyone until we have ended this war and Falconi has been stopped. You're much too nice of a girl to have all this hanging over your head."

Tia was touched by Minerva's words and she bowed her head, "I'm glad you think that. I am very honored to be in the presence of such an extraordinary witch."

"Tush," McGonagall said, swiping the compliment aside. "You are the extraordinary one my dear. I can see why Albus chose you for this. You are truly a gifted person."

Tia smiled at the small pun. She doubted that Minerva knew she had just done that because she really was a 'gifted' girl. She had known all her life that she'd never have it easy.

"You can go now I suppose," Minerva said, placing the vile back in Tia's hand. "This is yours, it is a threat. Be careful whom you trust."

"I will."

"Good."

Tia got up and walked over to the door. Her hand was on the doorknob and she was about to turn it when McGonagall's voice caught her again.

"Tia? You said the legend was called the Crimson Heart. Why is it called that?"

"Because my name _is_ Crimson Heart," Tia replied before walking out the door and leaving the professor to ponder.

_She had encountered him again and as soon as she'd evaded him, she ran. She ran and ran and ran. And when she found a horse she could ride, she ran some more. There was nothing else she could do. He would find her again; there was no doubt about it._

_There he had been, once more in her way. Her grandfather had warned her no more than a year ago that this man was dangerous and he had informed her that he disapproved of them being together. Then he had died suddenly and she had not been prepared. But he had come after her time after time, she began to grow accustomed to his actions and she could tell he would find her. _

_He found her and then she ran. _

_She made her way to the coast and found a small cottage at the side of a cliff. It was remote and fit her purpose perfectly. There was someone up the coast a ways as she could see a light in the distance. But that didn't bother her; they were probably muggles anyway. So she stayed there, eluded him until that one October night, almost three months since their last encounter. He came for her. She knew he was coming so she hid herself underneath the floorboards of the diminutive cottage._

_There was the clunk clunk of his boots on the step and then the knock at the door. But she refused to do anything about it. There was a small click and the door swung open with a creak. The clunk clunk of his boots came in and went around the entire perimeter of the cottage. When he was directly above her, he paused. His boot tapped the floorboard he was on and she knew he'd found her. She readied her wand and waited for the board to come up from above her._

_He kept moving on, back towards the door, but stopped. Her heart thumped because she knew what he was going to do next. She had just enough time to perform her shield before the entire floor above her was ripped clear. _

_She looked up at the man, emblazoned in the doorway. Even after nearly a century of being alive, he was beautiful. His brown shoulder-length hair was ruffled from the blast and his gleaming auburn eyes staring at her. His black pants and white shirt made his muscles etch their way through, something that would make any woman drool. He really had been someone to admire, until she'd discovered his motive for being with her. _

_"Lando," she said, not holding the edge from her tone. She'd loved this man, like no other and yet there he stood, ready to kill her for the one thing she had left. _

_"Crimson," he whispered cruelly, almost growling her name. "I'm sorry about your cottage, but it was a pig sty really."_

_There was a little humor in his voice and it repulsed her when he spoke. He'd been trying for so long now to capture her and yet there she stood, free of his grasp. "It should've suited you perfectly then," she flung at him, raising her chin a little higher as she took her aim._

_"Pity you are so smart," Lando continued, prowling from the door, closer and closer to her._

_"Pity your such a brainless bastard," Crimson replied, gripping her wand, wanting terribly to lash out at him._

_Lando stopped and glared at her, not even holding his wand at the ready. He knew she wouldn't do anything; she wouldn't be able to get away alive. "You know what I want, so I won't ask Crimson. Give it to me or suffer the consequences."_

_"Ha," Crimson laughed, knowing precisely that he would not damage her in any way, "if you have your…um…heart set on me giving it to you, then I suggest you find your heart, because that is the only way it works."_

_"You are such an insolent child Crimson. Why are you so difficult? If you do this now then you shan't have to run anymore."_

_"If I'm an insolent child then you must be an arrogant adult with as much knowledge as a toddler. My father gave me the gift, and my grandfather gave it to my mother. It was never meant for you and it shall never leave my hands. Ever." She had her stubborn side, true, but Crimson also had a fragile side and he was about to hit it hard in order to get what he wanted._

_"Your grandfather was incompetent. There was something senile in Merlin's mind when he chose your grandfather as his successor. And your mother was a fool to go after him. She had no strength of her own so she stole his. That is what killed him. And you will soon follow in your dear mother and grandfather's footsteps, unless you hand over the gift to me and I shall ensure you have the strength to live by my side, for the rest of eternity."_

_She hated her family being shamed and most of all by Lando. He had nothing left but this quest to acquire the Heart of Hearts. He had slashed her family more than once and it still irritated her so. "Lando, you have nothing against me and I have everything against you. Leave me be and you shall be at peace. And even if I were desperate, breathing my last few breaths, I would never, ever stand by your side, or agree to give you the Heart."_

_Lando's chest puffed up and his chin jutted. He had dealt with this behavior since the day Crimson had discovered his secret. And since then she had refused to go back to the way it was. _

_He then raised his wand, but Crimson was too quick for him, being nearly a century younger. There was a flash of light and Lando found himself flat on his back at the front of the ex-cottage. He lifted his head and watched as Crimson walked decidedly out the front. She was so exquisite and if only she'd give in, then they'd be the most unstoppable people in the world. Yet there she stood, alone, and proud of it._

_"Can you explain to me why I can best you Lando?" Crimson said, coming down the steps smoothly. "Can you explain why I can read you without even trying?"_

_Lando stayed still, waiting for his chance to strike._

_"It's because this is old. I can anticipate your every move because they never change. They're all the same, every single move you can throw at me I can equal and strike seconds before you. That is why, okay. Now leave me be and get on with your miserable life."_

_He lifted himself to his feet and searched the ground for his fallen wand. He saw it on the front step before Crimson. Where she stood in her dainty shoes and silk skirts, all torn and worn from running. Yet she stood there strong and not the least afraid. "Give me my wand back and I shall leave you."_

_"You shall get it back, after I leave and only then. I do not trust you Lando. I lost trust in you the day you tried to force yourself on me. That was even before I figured out you only wanted one thing from me. After that I lost the entire image of you and me. I hope someday, your image will grow old and withered, making my grandfather look like the person he really was, a better man than you."_

_She did not smile. She had not smiled at him since…well; she had not smiled at him for a long time. She had good reason not to too. She was stronger than her mother and grandfather; there was no misgiving of that. _

_She whistled a loud high pitch whistle and a shadowy bay came out of the trees in the distance. She walked over to it and nimbly jumped to it's back. "Leave me be Lando, because it will always be a lost cause if we continue like this." And she took off on the horse as fast as she could. She disappeared into the trees and Lando had a feeling he'd not see her for a long time._

Tia had not gone straight back to the common room. She did not want to go back and confront Draco at that moment. She was afraid that he would ask a dozen questions and she would have to push him off. There was no stopping it at the time because she knew he'd ask one way or another, whether it was now or tomorrow, or next week; he'd ask nonetheless.

So Tia had gone to the great hall and sat down at one of the tables. There was a few students sitting there doing their homework. There was no one she knew and she didn't intend to make friends now.

She sat there for a moment, not doing anything, allowing time for several students to start whispering about her. When the whispering she heard began to annoy her she finally went back to the common room. She'd no sooner entered the portrait then Draco was in front of her.

"Tia, thank god. What happened? What's going on? Tell me what the note was all about."

Tia sighed but just walked past him. She was not in the mood to discuss anything and only she knew why. It would irritate him greatly but there was nothing else she could do.

He watched her slow figure pass by him and walk up the stairs. There was something bothering her and he only wished he knew what. He'd need to let her be for a time and then start over again. Start over with her and the person he needed to know.


	7. Draco's Love for Tia

**Chapter Seven: Draco's Love For Tia**

Draco sat down on the couch in the common room early morning, about two weeks after their window had been blown to pieces. It, of course, had been repaired in a flash, but Tia still refused to speak to him. They acknowledged each other, but they did not go back to how they were. Tia got up, showered and left for class. Draco was the same. There was no interaction between the two, and it tore Draco to bits. Her image filled his every waking moment and was constantly in his dreams. There was no end to her face, her burning gaze that made his heart stop.

He had to bring this to a close, Draco thought to himself. He had to end this madness or else his ego and his heart would be sorely bruised. He felt sure that Tia was not mad at him, she was just being too cautious; not wanting to talk to him, look at him, out of some protective place she held. She still held him close to her heart, of that Draco was sure, but she refused to let him in any more.

One day after class, Draco was walking back and Blaise caught up with him at a running pace.

"Hey Draco, wait up? Where've you been?" Blaise asked, falling into step beside Draco.

"I've been right here Blaise," was his answer, and none to enthused either.

"I know that, but I mean, where's your head been? You seem kind of out of it these past weeks. What happened with you and Tia?"

Draco halted at her name. Since that fateful day so many days ago when she refused to explain anything to him, he could not stand to hear her name being uttered to him. All he could think about was she, but not her name. "Don't talk to me about her," Draco growled at Blaise and then took off once more down the hall.

But Blaise was persistent and followed him. "You two had a fight or something?"

"It's none of your business what goes on between her and I. That is our business and not yours, now leave me alone."

Blaise stopped walking beside Draco and then fell back, "You know you've grown colder than you once were. You hate that don't you? She'll warm you and then leave you cold and helpless, and you'll be lost again."

Draco stopped at his words and turned back to Blaise. Something had struck him about the words. They were true. He felt like a flame had touched him and then left him with a numbing feeling.

"It's true, isn't it," Blaise continued, walking back in front of Draco. "You are lost and SHE is the cause. She's gotten you in a mess and you can't stand it."

"Leave me alone Blaise. There is nothing left to discuss. Especially between you and I. Let it go."

Blaise shrugged his shoulders and spun to stalk off in the opposite direction.

Draco brushed off the repeating words in his ears and made his way directly to the common room. He needed to talk to her; there was nothing else to do.

He entered the portrait hole and found her sitting in the armchair by the fire. Her long, golden blonde hair was swept across her shoulders and she seemed to be gazing unawares into the fire.

"Tia," Draco said, loudly and with an irritating tone. Her head snapped back and caught his gaze, but only for a moment. She looked away quickly and resumed her trance into the fire. "Tia, look at me!" Draco ordered, coming around to stand directly in front of her.

"What?" she replied coldly, staring at him through shadowed eyes.

He felt strength behind the eyes she showed him; not the eyes he'd seen her use when she looked at him before. She was trying to control him! Trying to make him go away. She did not want to talk to him, but he had no choice but to make her. If not for his own purpose then for her own good, she could not isolate herself any longer.

"Why are you so stubborn?" Draco flung at her, taking the blunt approach.

"I'm stubborn yes," Tia admitted, "but I'm not pushy like you."

"Why you—" Draco started, but then could not finish. Her glare was deadly and it was her control on him that made him stop.

"Don't say something you will regret Draco," she informed him, getting up swiftly from her lazy position on the chair. She moved past him and crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared into the fire. "I have no intention of talking to you, it's for you that I refuse to talk and you should respect that."

She released him with her psyche control and his tongue came untied. She had the nerve and will of a rhinoceros and it was driving him completely insane. His blunt approach had not succeeded so he tried a different technique: the understanding approach. Now Draco Malfoy is not known for his understanding, but he forced himself, then and there, to be calm and cool and contained, and not let his temper run a mock without him. Tia needed to talk about what happened and he was the only one who would listen.

"Tia," he said, quietly and conserved. Tia turned at his voice, a tone she had never heard him use. "Tia, please, tell me something."

She could not help but smile a little. He was truly a man to be proud of; he did not ask her the whole truth, but rather what she was willing to tell him. She owed him that at least after keeping him in the dark for the past two weeks.

"I'll try," she whispered.

He heard and perked up slightly. He sat on the green and silver settee in his rugged way, making his handsome features illuminate and shine. If nothing else other than being a great lover, Draco was extremely handsome. He had manly expressions and magnificent muscles and it made Tia mad about him.

"What would you like to know?" Tia asked, before adding, "within reason!"

"Of course," Draco smiled and then thought. He would not pry into all of it, just the just of it. He looked around and saw the repaired window. "Why did the vile come in here?"

"Because it was aimed for me. I can't tell you the whole of it, but you need to know something, right?"

"I'm glad we agree. But please come sit down and tell me," he said as he patted the seat close beside him.

She nodded and came over beside him. His arm went naturally around her shoulder and she leaned into him. His warmth comforted her and it was something she needed most definitely.

"Are you here for school?" he asked, stroking her hair from her brow.

"No. I came here on a task, a secret obsession that I was assigned to do. But over the time being here I've begun to think my being here was worthless because I have not needed to act on the task. And I'll never understand why, but I've grown accustomed to being here…with you."

Draco chuckled and took her hand in his own. "I can believe you are not here for school, but I can't believe you are here because of me."

Tia smiled slightly underneath her ruse. He had no idea how wrong he was. She was indeed there because of him, but also because of the item _he_ was there _for_; something she never wanted to see in his hands. "Believe what you will Draco, but I'm staying for you. Had I any choice in the matter, I'd never have come for the job and just come for you."

Draco smiled once more and praised her heart silently. "You have such a kind soul Tia," he complimented. "I don't think I would have ever lived to see another day here without you by my side."

"I'm not always where I am now Draco. And I shan't always be. I have to go on and that may not include you."

"It will if I have anything to say about it," he replied firmly, seizing a stronger hold of her in his arms.

"Very sweet Draco," Tia said quietly, enjoying his passion and understanding, "but I'm afraid we've strayed from your original query. You want to know about the note, am I right?"

"Indeed I do," he replied.

"I'm not who I am on the outside, Draco. But everything I say and do is me; the person I grew up as is the person you see every day. But I have a pretense, someone on the outside whom I have to put in place when I'm scared or sad. It's who I am."

"And who are you Tia?" he asked, wanting desperately to uncover the secret.

"I am who I am."

"What? That doesn't make sense," Draco said, not hiding his distain for the answer.

Tia felt his edge and she had to tell him more, it was the only way to be free of the brick he had unknowingly placed on her chest. "It does. I am whom you see and whom you hear. No, I'm not a student, and no, I am not here for you alone, though it was definitely a bonus."

Draco chortled at that comment but let her continue.

"I cannot…I cannot tell you who I am," Tia said, though wanting to tell him everything. "But I can tell you that I will never harm you and I will always make sure you are safe from the one person who is after me."

"Who is after you Tia?"

"A man…named Lando Falconi. He has been after me for a long time, and my father and grandfather before me. He is the man who sent the note."

"Lando Falconi?" Draco repeated, thinking over his knowledge of 'dark' people and he came up with nothing.

"You won't know him," Tia explained. "He's old and not well known. He keeps his secret well and not many people know what he's after. No one but me."

The weight felt heavier than ever and Tia found it hard to breath. The immensity of the situation had now hit her. Lando would go after Draco and everyone she had met here, just to get to her. It was his way of making her cooperative; something no one should be proud of, but nothing else had worked on her.

Tia sat up, gasping for breath, willing her lungs to produce the oxygen she needed to continue.

"Tia, oh my god, Tia? What's wrong? Tia calm down, please calm down. I love you, don't do this now." Draco held her back, rubbing it in circles, pleading with her.

She caught few snippets of what he said, but the one she caught and remembered the most was the 'I love you' bit. She stopped heaving breaths and looked calmly back at Draco who had concern written all over his face. "What did you say?" she whispered.

"I asked what's wrong?" he replied, ignoring her caring look.

"No," she said, frustrated with his reply, "the other part, after that. You said you loved me."

"No I didn't," Draco, retorted furrowing his brow, trying to lie as best he could.

"Don't make that face Draco," Tia told him. "With that face I can tell you aren't telling me the truth."

"I…I…" Draco could not find words. He did say he loved her, but why? Why had he acted so panicky when she could not breath? Was it that he feared for her or was it because he truly cared for her deeply? He did. Deep, buried in his once cold heart, he found love for Tia. "I do love you Tia."

Tia's eyes closed as she heard the words. She'd heard them many a time before, from various men she had grown close to, but his words were sincere, trustworthy and kind, but above all, they were true. In his aura, she could see the truth in his words and she felt it too. But she also knew this would come to her ruin. If Lando found out then he would take Draco to get to her.

Her actions took Draco off guard when she rose abruptly and walked to the stairs.

"Tia, what happened? Did I say something wrong?" Draco asked, following her to the foot of the stairs.

She turned slowly back to him and could not smile. "Draco…I desperately want to have this with you, this love…but, I can't. With you in my life, Lando will take you and I can't have that. You're the one person in the world who he would take, and it would be all my fault. Please don't make me do this."

Her words cut him. He had just confessed his love for her and she was turning him down. Her severe words and guilt for his life made him believe she was telling the truth but he could not figure out why it had come to this. "For the life of me Tia, tell me why you feel this way," he begged.

Tia gulped and shut her eyes. They had begun to water when her thoughts had drifted to his life on the line for her and now as her eyelids closed, small salty drops leaked from her eyes. "I can't tell you Draco," she claimed, brushing the tears away. "If I could, then I would, but I can't."

"You can Tia," he insisted. "You can tell me anything. I am strong and I will protect you from whatever you are up against, you just need to tell me what."

She looked down into his face and saw a young man, beyond doubt in love with her. There was no hiding his emotions as he saw her cry. Their eyes met and Tia felt his aura shift from loving and worried to fond and protective. He had promised to keep her safe, when she was the only one who could do that. Lando was strong and able, and Tia was well aware that Draco was too, but Lando had many more years of experience, six hundred and fifty to be exact.

She dropped a step and was level with him. Her hands went to the sides of his face and he reached to grip her waist. She placed her forehead on his and breathed deep. "I love you Draco, but I will not watch you die. Not for me."

Tia reached forward and kissed him gently on the lips before backing away. She refused to look at him and as Draco watched her walk up the stairs by herself, he felt the cold stab of heartbreak, something he had never experienced, yet he knew it on impact.

She loved him, she had admitted it, but whatever she was against was no match for him, and she knew it. Tia was strong and adept, Draco was sure of that, but her fragility to the subject made her vulnerable and it hurt him as much as it did her. She did not trust him to save her and she would not be responsible for his death. But what memory, or man, would be capable of bringing such torment on such a young girl. There was no explanation for that and it drove Draco insane.

Draco had sat by himself, almost for five hours straight, not doing anything. Tia had not emerged from her room, and Draco doubted she would for a time. But he had to. He had the urge to comfort her.

He slipped his way up the creaking stairs and he edged open her bedroom door. Inside, he saw her, facing him on her side, in just a tank top and boxer shorts, covered in a comforter of soft goose down. He entered her room ever so quietly and shut the door with a click. His heart hammered when he saw her tear stained cheeks illuminated by the moon coming in her window.

He slipped his jeans off and then removed his shirt. She'd be mad at him for this, but she needed to be comforted. He moved around to the other side of the bed and lifted the blankets to slide in behind her. She shifted, pushing herself closer to him. His arm went over her and held her close and her hand touched his, keeping it where it was. There they slept, waiting for the sun to rise when she would be made at him and he would love her even more.


	8. Live and Let Die

**Chapter Eight: Live and Let Die**

She had not slept well, so when she woke, she felt as if the brick she previously thought was on her chest had just doubled. When her eyes opened, Tia found herself being clung to by a man at her back. She turned her head and saw his eyes closed and his blonde hair covering his face. Draco looked so peaceful and lovable, and she just couldn't resist in waking him.

She shuffled herself to face him, his arm still overtop of her. She blew softly on his nose and his hand brushed it slightly. Tia blew again and he repeated the action. This time she couldn't help but giggle, and it was one giggle too many because it woke him up.

"Wha're you doin'?" he asked sleepily.

"Nothing," she whispered. "I was just having some fun."

His eyes popped open and his steel-grey eyes gazed into hers. "Fun you say?" he quirked his eyebrow at her, though still looking tired.

Tia giggled again and then jabbed him in the ribs making him bend over from the impact, "Not that kind of fun you jerk," she said to him.

"I was just kidding Tia. Geez, take it out on an innocent bystander." Tia smiled and he looked back into her eyes. "It's good to see you smile again," Draco whispered, pulling her into a warm hug.

"Don't get used to it," Tia said solemnly, yanking from his grasp and slipping off the bed and walking to the door. "I don't make a habit of smiling when I know I won't live to see the New Year."

Draco groaned in distain from her comment, which was harsh and unfair. "Don't talk like that Tia," he muttered, following her to the bathroom.

"I can talk any way I like and there's nothing you can do about that," Tia replied, walking into the bathroom and pulling off her shirt.

Draco was not exactly blushing, but Tia was being blunt, too blunt. "Is there something wrong?" Draco asked as he watched Tia pull off her boxers and climb in the tub behind the shower curtain.

"No, of course not, what could be wrong?" Tia said sarcastically. "Of course something's wrong, but it's not like I'm gonna tell you!"

Draco scowled and sat down on the bathroom counter, "You know you're annoying right," he told her.

She stuck her head out from behind the curtain and said, proudly, "I know, it's part of my charm!" She pulled back the curtain and turned off the water.

"I don't understand you Tia, but I love you more than I can say. I don't think I will ever understand what's going on here."

Her hand extended from behind the curtain and grabbed her navy blue plush towel. Draco saw her wrap it around her slender body and then pull back the curtain. "Draco," she sighed, stepping out of the tub, dripping wet, and walking towards him, "I don't know any other way to say this without keeping most of it to myself. I told you I'd like to tell you everything but I just can't. It will be the best, for both of us."

"I know, I know!" Draco admitted, pushing himself off the counter and to stand in front of her. He grabbed her hands and just looked at them. "I just don't understand it."

"I know that as well," she told him before pulling her hands away to force him to look at her. With her hand on his cheek she felt more normal, as if it were a regular disagreement. "My wish is nothing more than for you to be happy and know what your up against, but it won't help you any."

"Okay," Draco said, though still sounding disappointed.

"Let's forget about it, hun," she continued in a much lighter mood. "I don't want to think about who's after me. I'd just like to spend my time with you."

"Now I like that idea," he agreed, leading her out of the bathroom. Tia laughed lightly at his change in mood. It was probably better for him to not think about the problems between them anyways.

They went into their separate rooms for a time while each got dressed. When they emerged, at the exact same time, they fell into each other's arms and dropped to the floor laughing.

"How wonderful," came a voice, not really sounding thrilled, "I just can't believe what I'm seeing."

Tia's heart plummeted to her toes and she froze every muscle in her body. That voice; that shadow; that dark and terrorizing feeling that hit her in the pit of her stomach. She turned her head slowly to see him standing there at the top of the stairs. His hair still to his shoulders, his auburn eyes flaring at her, his handsome features that would make a woman melt. After everything he had been through, he still looked as young as Tia did, and it scared her terribly.

"Lando," she whispered, not taking her eyes off of his face.

"Lando?" Draco asked disbelievingly, "This cannot be Lando, you said he was old."

Tia looked from Draco back to Lando. He was the last person she had expected at that moment, and now he was there, making her heart beat at an unnatural tempo. Draco had no idea what he had said could be held against him. Around Lando it was always important to think before you speak because he had amazing memory and he held a grudge, a long time too.

Lando advanced at them down the hallway and Tia leapt to her feet, fists balled and ready for anything.

"My dear one, you really think you can beat me in muggle combat?" he smirked, almost laughing at her. "You should know better than that."

Tia did not comment on his remark, but stayed silent. In the meantime, Draco had seized an opportunity to get to his feet and pull out his wand, gripping it tight.

Lando looked past Tia to where Draco stood and then actually laughed. "Is this the model of this century? He's rather meek don't you think?" He looked back at Tia and smirked wider.

"Leave him out of this Lando," Tia murmured, low, but still audible, "this is between you and me."

"Ah, but my dear," he said, brushing past her towards Draco, "where is the fun in that?"

As he walked by, Tia followed him like a lion follows its prey, never taking her eyes off him for a second. He had gone to Draco and circled him once. "What were you, a vulture in you previous life?" Draco remarked, making Tia smile slightly, but it was not a happy smile, it was a smile of some small triumph.

Lando turned back to Tia and said, "Charming, isn't he? Too bad."

"Wait what do you mean 'too bad'?" Tia gasped, stepping forward, watching as Lando pulled his wand out from inside his dark shirt.

Draco saw this too and placed his wand at the ready, nearly touching Lando's throat. "I wouldn't attempt anything," Draco warned him, his voice back to the regular cold and uncaring.

"You'd better advise your plaything to lower his wand Crimson, if you want him to live." Lando's voice was crisp and rich, a sound Tia had never quite forgotten. He was serious as well. Normally he had a light humorous mood and was prepared for this sort of thing, but this time his words were dark and forbidding.

Tia sighed and let her eyes leave Lando's face before muttering, "Put it down Draco, it's not worth it."

"Tia, this man is here to kill you, why do you want him to be armed and not defend yourself?" Draco did not lower his wand, but he did look away from Lando, just long enough for Lando to brush away the wand, making it drop from Draco's hands completely, and like lightening his wand had been replaced at Draco's throat.

Tia saw every move and she moved forward just enough for Lando to remove his gaze from Draco to Tia. "Don't move love," he told her, pushing the tip of his wand threateningly at Draco. "It's been like this for years Crimson, remember? Couldn't you have prevented this once in your miserable life? First there was Daniel, the smart scholar. Then there was Marcus, the loving soldier. Then came Jules, Fredrick, after that was Francois, Henry, many others, and finally Roger, a man whom you are fortunate to still be in contact with, your 'father'. And every other person you've come in contact with, including the ones I've listed, has tasted the cold end of my wand. You could have prevented that every time, but you didn't. Will this be different?"

Tia could feel a bulge rising in her throat, something placed there by the reminder of the people she had loved, many a man whom she was unable to save. Draco would be the same, she told herself, unless she could do something to protect him. But the only solution would be to give Lando what he wanted, and that was definitely not an option.

Tia sighed heavily, letting out the bad thoughts and tough choices she had to make. She cleared her mind completely but for Lando and herself. This was the only way she could save Draco for now. It would drain her, yes, but it might prove to be something useful.

There is an ancient art that her grandfather taught her, something that was very rare and miraculous to witness. It was the act of transporting one or two people to another time; another memory actually, something you remember like the back of your hand. Tia had learned it as Crimson and had used it as one of her previous aliases. It had worked the once and Tia was sure that Lando would remember the time.

She cleared her mind and Lando saw her concentration. He smiled because this was exactly why he had come. Within her memory, he would be able to speak to her, without this boy always asking bothersome questions that he didn't have the time for. For Tia and himself time would stop and the two would leave their bodies and float to the memory of Tia's choice.

It happened suddenly and the sensation tingled through Tia's toes all the way to the roots of her hair. She left her body behind her, stuck in the tableau and fell exactly where she intended.

She landed in the middle of the wide hall and waited until Lando finished the journey. Tia had picked this school because she had been there most of her life, always as someone else when the time came. She'd seen its transformations and evolvement from a grand castle with courtiers and lords, to the boarding school it was at present. It was the one place she felt comfortable in because she knew where it had been, and it was exactly where she'd been.

"I figured you'd pick here," Lando said from behind her.

She spun on him and immediately regretted her choice greatly now to bring him here. He would have his way here of nowhere else, she was sure of that. "I come here because it's the place I have always known."

"I know," he replied, coming forward to stand directly in front of her. "I trained here, as did your grandfather, your mother trained here and so did you. It is a place of history and background, something you have much of."

"You know my answer to your question Lando," Tia told him firmly, trying to buck up some courage to resist him, "and that is how it will stay."

"Crimson, Crimson," he said, shaking his head in dismay, "have you not learned from your many mistakes. You and I will always rage this war; it is planned. I wish to pieces this would end, but I have the desire to claim the Heart and I will get it. Whether or not it is now, ten years from now, or another six hundred years, I will gain what I want."

At this, Tia laughed, "By then Lando, you and I will be weary of this and one will give up. I'm betting it'll be you who will give up first because even though you have and elixir of life that prevents you from dying off, I have the Heart, which is much more powerful. I will live and be strong for years to come."

Lando's eyes pierced her own, watching whatever he saw within their pupils. "You'll continue to kill off your men; the men that can't resist your body, mind and soul? Is that the life you want Crimson?"

"I've lived for six hundred and some years now Lando," Tia said, irritated at his pushy behavior, "I have seen many men die because they loved me. But you are the one person who has persisted after me, killing off everyone else. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous, killing off just to spite me." Tia knew this remark to be false and yet she said it anyway. It would annoy him and make him lose his temper, she hoped.

But he didn't.

"It's a good thing you do know better, Crimson, because that is not my wish at all. I do not have any attachment for you other than your body…" he paused, glancing over her once, "and your Heart."

"Which heart is this?" Tia remarked, aggravating him even further.

"Damnit Crimson!" he said, stomping his foot on the ground like a child. "Why must we continue this charade? I tire of it."

"Then give up Lando and I shall be declared the winner. You lose and I win."

The cold look that Lando gave her had no effect. It was cold, yes, but not intimidating. Tia was rarely intimidated by the opposite sex anymore; she'd grown too used to it and it no longer surprised her. "I'll never give up Crimson," he told her, "and you will lose that man of yours. It shall come and he will die. With his death you will simply pout and move on, like all the others. It will come; the day when this all ends."

"I'm sure it will Lando, and I will leave it till then to decide further. You too!"

He eyed her and nodded graciously. "I will abide by your terms for now Crimson, but beware the time when it will end and your world will tumble apart."

He did not get the chance to utter another syllable because Tia had drifted back from her school to the narrow hallway where the tableau stood. The two floated back into their bodies and time unfroze itself. Draco stood there, bewildered at them; the same face he had on when they had left.

"Tia, what is he talking about?" he asked, wondering still about all the men that Lando had mentioned.

"Nothing Draco," she replied, walking away from the pair, looking very tired and weary.

Lando lowered his wand and followed her, Draco close at his heel, snatching up his wand on the way. "Stop you," he yelled, "Don't you dare hurt her!"

Lando kept going and followed Tia down the stairs. She'd gone over to the window and nodded towards it when Lando came. He nodded his agreement and stepped up to the windowsill.

"Till the day, Crimson Heart," he muttered to her before stepping out the window and disappearing.

Tia closed the window and sat on the sill. She did not want to believe what happened had actually happened. The logic behind it was twisted and warped. Lando had found her and had let her go, without so much as a single hair tousled.

Draco was confused and angry with her; she could feel his gaze burning. She slipped in and then out of the last few minutes before slipping completely into a state of unconsciousness. Her act of taking Lando back to the memory had drained her completely and she could keep her eyes open no longer.


	9. Trying to Believe the Unbelievable

**Chapter Nine: Trying to Believe the Unbelievable **

He'd spent hours pacing by her bedside, almost willing her to wake. But no matter how hard he paced and how much he wore the floor in, she would not stir. He was beginning to think she was dead, but each time he thought these thoughts he saw her chest rise and fall with each breath. Also, he might have thought that all he could hear was his own heart pound in his chest, beating at a tempo that was new to him.

He'd been replaying things in his head that he did not want to believe to an extent. He did not want to believe that Lando was there. He did not want to believe that Lando had mentioned so many men who had died over the sake of Tia, by his wand no less. He did not want to believe any of it, but he was positive that when Tia woke, she would tell him they were true. But when would she wake? He wondered.

After five hours and no luck in seeing her beautiful eyes in his face, Draco fell into the chair that was conveniently in the corner of Tia's room and without a second's pause, he fell fast asleep.

The sleep Draco experienced was not peaceful and it was far from relaxing. His mind kept reminding him of the previous night, only much more exaggerated. He saw himself in pain and Tia and Lando in one another's arms. Then the image would change and in its place was Tia dead on the floor, Lando cackling and himself kneeling over her dead body, crying. But none of this was true when he woke from his slumber, drenched in sweat, because Tia still lay in her bed, fast asleep.

He rose from the chair and walked to sit at Tia's bedside, wanting her to look up into his blue-grey eyes. The bed made an impression when he sat down and as he did so, Tia's eyes fluttered open and she sat up abruptly with a gasp escaping her mouth. She heaved in and out as if she herself had just dreamed something horrible.

"Tia, what's wrong?" Draco worried, placing his hands on her shoulders, making her turn to him.

Their eyes met and Tia screamed as if she was in such pain she could not look at him. He didn't know at the time how much his presumption was true. Tia bent over and held her head in her hands, rocking herself back and forth from the images she had seen. One look and she'd been stabbed all over with a thousand knives, each tainted with Lando's hand.

"Tia," Draco pleaded, placing his hand on her back, "tell me what hurts, let me help you." But Tia kept her head down. She refused to look back at him for fear of the pain once again. But she was trying to cure the crying. The hurt subsided slightly and she stopped rocking. Her first impulse after the pain was to reach up and cling around Draco's neck for comfort, but she held herself back because if they even locked eyes for a second time, she would writhe in pain and she did not want that.

"My love?" Draco asked, masking his worry none too well, "please let me comfort you."

Tia heaved a shaky breath that rattled her very bones. She hated to think of what might happen when she hugged him, but she needed to be comforted and Draco was the only one who would. "Close your eyes," she told him, raising her head but not looking at him.

"Why?" He asked cautiously.

"Just do it please," she said firmly, still refusing to look at him. He obliged hesitantly and closed his eyes. "Are your eyes closed?" she asked.

"Yes."

She turned slowly to look at Draco. His eyes were indeed cold and even as she looked at his closed eyelids, she could feel the pain throbbing in her heart. She moved quickly and threw her arms around his neck. She clung to him with endless want to be comforted.

He was surprised at the impact of her body against his own but he was thankful as well. His arms snuck their way around her waist to her back and he embraced her with every emotion he held in his head at that moment. His heart was crying out for her and his head was trying to muddle things through even if he needed Tia to do so.

They just sat there holding each other close, never wanting to let go. Tia's strain on not looking at him was drifting because there was no real pain in his eyes to see, just something she had seen that made him unbearable to look at. When she pulled away, Draco still held her at arms length with his eyes closed. "I had a dream," she whispered, not wanting to think back on the dream she'd had.

"It was just a dream," Draco said, trying his best to comfort her without actually seeing her.

"I know," she told him, falling back into his arms, "but it made it hurt to look at you and from that I know it will come true."

"Let me open my eyes and see you," he asked, hugging her body.

"I don't know Draco," she said, pulling once more from his grasp though not letting his fingers leave her arms. "I don't know it I can look at your eyes without feeling pain."

"I won't let myself hurt you Tia," he said, promising her no pain.

"I know you would never deliberately hurt me Draco, but that may not be the case here. This might have nothing to do with you."

"I don't understand."

"I knew you wouldn't. I have to explain from the beginning in order for you to understand, and I'm not sure I can do that. I told you before that it would place a price on your head if I did, and now that Lando knows you, I don't see anything stopping him now. I suppose I must tell you the just of it."

Draco let out a relived sigh and smiled to himself. Finally he was getting somewhere; finally Tia was opening up to him. "Tell me."

"I will tell you, but you can't interrupt until I'm done or I say you can ask a question. Do you agree?"

"Of course I do. I want to know anything I can do to help you out of this mess."

"So sweet Draco, but I doubt you can."

"Let me try at least," he urged.

"Fine," she said, accepting that he truly meant to help. He opened his eyes and held her hand tightly. She began to tell him her story, though leaving out some unimportant detail such as her lineage; that was not of great importance to him at the moment. "My name for starters, is not Tia McPherson. It is one of my aliases that I change every two decades. I can't pull off being a thirty year old so I've been a student for six hundred years." Tia saw Draco's mouth open to say something but he resisted, to which she was grateful for. "I am six hundred and seventeen years old and my name is Crimson Heart. Lando Falconi was the old nemesis of my grandfather, who was an apprentice of Merlin himself. Now Lando has made it his life's mission to overtake me, and the gift my father passed on to me from my mother. The gift he gave me was the Heart of Hearts, a magic given to my grandfather by Merlin. It gives the carrier the ability to live forever, should they desire to. But they can also pass it on to their daughter when the time comes, if it ever did. But no time has arisen for me to pass it on because Lando has been constantly on my tail for six centuries."

As Tia recollected her story, Draco had a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. As she told him everything, he found himself being torn between her story and the things he believed. If the things she was saying were true, then he did not feel himself believing in her. He listened closely to her tale but somewhat tuned her out because it was so farfetched.

"I have been seventeen for six hundred years and I am so tired. But I can't pass on the gift because then my daughter would be torn between the life she wants to live and the life she has to live. Lando will never give up and until he has the gift, and I cannot let my guard down around him."

"But you have done Tia," Draco interrupted unknowingly, just wanting to clarify something, "you turned and walked away from him just last night."

"I know, but I've done that many times. He can never take the heart from me through force which is why he's killed everyone I love. He thinks he can make me weary and I will surrender to him, but in six hundred years, I have not given up. I refuse to give up."

'You're a tough girl Tia," Draco told her, hands tightly clasped around her, trying to shove his unsure thoughts from his mind. "You are no different from what I thought, except that you're a little older than I thought."

There was humor in the way Draco remarked on her past and it made her feel only a little better. It was almost as if he wasn't taking this seriously. And as soon as that thought stuck her, she sat up and looked directly at him. His eyes were closed but she could no longer feel the pain they had held before. "Look at me Draco," she told him firmly.

"I don't want to hurt you," he replied, tightly pinching his eyelids together.

"And I don't want to _have_ to hurt you, so you'd better open your eyes."

Draco heard the anger in her voice and so he hesitated momentarily before inching his eyes open. First he opened his left eye and then his right. Tia was sitting in front of him, glaring him down.

"Are you taking this seriously Draco?" she asked, thoroughly irritated.

"Of course I am," Draco said, not sounding very convincing.

"No your not, I can tell. You don't believe me."

"I believe you Tia, or Crimson if that is really your name. I believe everything you said and I will never doubt your motives again. Please don't hurt me." Draco had no idea what he was saying. He truly wanted to believe her, but something was holding him back. It might be the fact that she didn't look six hundred years old, or it might just be that he was scared of her. His face grew solemn and he said, "No Tia, I don't believe you. I don't know why, but I just can't believe you are what you claim to be. It was easier being kept in the dark than being told this tall tale, about you and your grandfather. I don't know what your problem is, but I cannot allow myself to believe your story."

Tia's eyes had receded into tiny slits of anger. She was livid beyond imagination. She had trusted him with everything that was true and he didn't accept her story as true. He thought her a liar and it angered her enormously.

She slapped him hard across the face before leaping off her bed and walking to her door. Draco watched as she threw the door open and exited through it. He flew after her and flung himself down the hall. She was already at the portrait hole before he caught up with her.

"Tia, don't ask me to believe a lie, I've done it for so long that I despise the very thought of it now. Can't we go back to the way we were?"

Tia spun on him and the glare hit him once more. "I cannot believe I trusted you. You are such an asshole. God, how could I have been so stupid, to think you were different than all other men? How could I have not seen your doubt?"

She was enraged at him and her fury was not about to be masked. She exited the portrait, followed by Draco. Several students saw them and questioned what they saw but they were soon distracted by some other entertainment, which suited Tia and Draco perfectly.

Draco did not know where she was going, but he did know that he was going to follow her to the ends of the earth. He felt she needed help, something to get her out of this crazy pretense. He desperately wanted his Tia back.

Down the stairs and then out the door, Draco followed Tia, but when she came to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, he stopped. "Where are you going," he called to her.

"What's it to you? You think I'm a sick deranged child, making up stories for fun."

He could feel her anger being thrust at him in each word she said. He knew now that the mistake had been his to ever get involved in this messy relationship, and yet he had gone so far and had not seen the outcome. "Tia, wait. Please come back," he yelled, but she disappeared into the darkness.

"Tia!" called a voice from behind Draco. He spun to see a misty formed girl coming down from the sky towards him. He took out his wand, but did not think of throwing a spell at this being. "Tia, come back," she yelled at the forest.

From within its depths, Tia heard the voice call her, and it was not Draco. She spun and returned from the trees to see her friend there, clearly formed as a young teenager, wearing a black leather jacket and dark jeans, her black hair tied up in a ponytail, no older than Tia…on the outside that is.

"Margaret?" Tia asked befuddled as to why her friend was there.

"Cameron, please call me Cameron. Yeah it's me," she replied, heaving large breathes. "Come on, we've got to go. Your father has been kidnapped."

Tia's breath stopped short as the words came to her ears. Her father, not really her father, had been the only other person that Lando had not gone after and now her worst fears had been realized: Lando meant serious business. "Where did he take them?" she asked, walking alongside her friend, making their way towards the gates of Hogwarts, completely forgetting Draco was behind them.

"He's taken him to a coastal cottage outside Bristol. Lando and his cronies have been there at least twice a week for the past two. It seems that they were preparing for this to happen. I'm just glad I was nearby when I caught word."

"You were in Bristol?" Tia asked, confused to where Cameron was at the time her father was kidnapped.

"No, I was near your house on other…hehemm…business."

Tia looked at Cameron and Cameron raised her eyebrows. "Oh, right," she said, realizing what Cameron was hinting to. She'd been there sending someone else a message no doubt. "How are we getting there?" she asked.

"We're taking the train," Cameron said sarcastically, walking briskly through the gates. "How do you think we're getting there?"

"Right," Tia agreed.

"But first thing's first, how are we going to get rid of that?" she asked, gesturing to Draco who was running to catch up with them.

"He can't follow us anyways," Tia told her, "he doesn't know how."

"Yeah, I guess so. But he knows where we're going, right?"

"Most likely. He overheard us talk enough already. But it's not like he can find the exact little cottage."

"True. Good then, let's get out of here." Cameron left her human form and dispersed into the mist she became.

Before Tia did the same, she turned back to Draco and yelled, "Stay here. There's no point in you coming and being killed. It will only make things worse if you do."

"But Tia," he yelled back, concerned to where she was going and what was happening, "I love you. I can't let you go alone."

"I've been going it alone for six hundred years Draco, this won't be any different." She calmed her words and then concentrated on her act. She needed to be completely selfless and focus on the place she needed to go to. Cameron was swirling around her now, in her dark violet fog.

When her girl form was almost gone Tia looked back at Draco and smiled. "I love you too," she whispered into the wind, making him hear it as if she was a mile away.

He watched as she turned into emerald green fog and then she drifted away across the village of Hogsmeade towards Bristol.

He wanted so badly to trust her she would be okay, but a strong urge to protect her kept rising. She was his to protect; she had given him that right the night she urged him to make love to her. And now this was his only shot to make sure he could keep that feeling and to do that, he needed her by his side, for the rest of his life.

He turned and sprinted back to the castle.


	10. Another End to Another Beginning

**Chapter Ten: Another End to Another Beginning**

When Tia morphed back into her human form she knew exactly where she was. The cottage had been rebuilt and the house up the coast still had it's light on, shining through the window. Cameron was there beside her within moments and so they set off at a brisk pace towards the small hut.

"How're we going to do this?" Cameron asked, crouching behind one of the few trees that were between them and the cottage.

"I don't really know. He'll be expecting this so a surprise attack isn't going to work." Tia was trying to devise a plan of action in her head, which was clogged with many other things at the time. The one that protruded the most was the look in Draco's eyes when she left. She knew sooner of later he'd turn up there, and she also knew he was beginning to believe her. But her closest friend was trapped within the soft wood walls of the hut in front of them and she needed to help him escape.

"I think that we should just walk in," she said, not muddling any more.

"Walk right in?" Cameron asked, her eyebrows rose questionably. "Are you nuts?"

"Not that I know of, but I can't think of anything else. I mean, he'll be expecting this and so there really isn't much else we can do."

"Yeah sure, but just walking in there and demanding your father back? That seems somewhat irrational."

"Cameron," Tia said, "I'm six hundred years old, everything rational worth trying I've already done. It's time for the most irrational I can get." She turned, determined to get this right after all the wrong stab attempts at rescues.

She emerged from behind the tree and heard someone yell a warning in the distance, probably one of Lando's cronies, letting him know she was there. She walked proudly up to the cottage and them marched up the stairs confidently. This was it, the moment of truth. It was now or never.

She kicked open the door with rage and fury, and such strength that the door came clear off it's hinges, that it even startled Lando who was sitting down at the table in the middle of the room.

Tia scanned the room once over and found Roger sitting in the corner of the room on a small cot, curled up in a ball, looking much worse for the wear. His head rose as she came into the room and his eyes brightened slightly, but he did not look that confident.

"Crimson, my love," Lando said brightly, switching his stance to a handsome rugged pose, "fancy seeing you here. I see you caught word of this unfortunate news. Your…hehemm, father has come to stay with his for a while. I suppose you'd like to say hello."

"Cut the crap Lando. You know it would come to this. Why the hell are you forced to do such an act of atrocity? Can't you try something new?"

"This is new hun," Lando remarked, gliding across the wood floor to where she stood. "This is new because you fell for it, when other times you would have left the poor unfortunate soul here to die. What made you trust Cameron here so willingly?" His face lifted to Cameron who stood beside her, quite calm and cool to look at. His face laughed at Tia, knowing something she did not.

"What is he talking about Cameron?" Tia said, looking at her friend, willing her to contradict Lando's words.

Cameron then started to sneer at Tia with a wide and enthusiastic smile. She circled Tia once and then went to stand beside Lando.

"Tell me you didn't see this coming?" Lando said, still leering at her with irate eyes.

"You're with him?" Tia said coldly at Cameron.

"How could I resist?" she replied, moving closer to Lando. "He was everything that I could dream of, plus millions more. He is my key ticket to sitting in all the best circles." Her hand went to his shoulder and rubbed it affectionately. "He's going to make me very happy in this small interlude."

"You know it's all ridiculous horse shit right?" Tia said, placing her bravado once more in front of her. "He'll never care for you as much as he cares for me."

"Crimson, I care for you yes, but you're not what I want. Besides, Cameron has proven to be quite beneficial to my cause and to the Dark Lord's."

Tia cocked her head, thinking on those words. "You're in cahoots with Voldemort as well. Figures, seen as how she told me a cock and bull story about her loving Harry Potter. I should've caught on then. Why would an immortal go for the Chosen One, especially when he'll never love her like that?" Tia's voice crew colder and colder with each word she spoke. This provoked Cameron's ego and she spun her wand out and lashed Tia right across the face.

She twirled, none too gracefully either, and hit the wooden floor hard. Her hand went up to her face and she felt the warm sticky blood that was trickling from her brow. She was pleased somewhat with making Cameron act out like that.

Meanwhile, Lando was trying to restrain Cameron who was clearly still trying to attack Tia. "You bitch, how could you say something like that?" she was yelling at Tia. It was apparent now that her story hadn't exactly been lying when she'd confessed her affection for Harry. But it didn't explain why she was in league with Lando who was apparently helping Voldemort who was out to kill Harry. It all made no sense.

Tia got to her feet and watched as Lando turned back to her. "You know you really shouldn't egg her on, she's quite the fragile little Messenger. Now I have a proposition to put to you."

"I'm not giving you the Heart, and I never shall," Tia said before Lando had even the slightest chance to speak.

"Well that's what I thought you'd say, but I have news for you; I can make you give it to me." His smile twisted cruelly and slowly advanced towards her.

"There is no way you can make me. I have to be willing to give it to you and I certainly never shall." Tia's heart was pounding, having only a little idea as to what Lando was suggesting.

"I can and will make you give it to me," he said, picking up a heavy book from the table. "I've been reading—"

"You can read!" Tia interrupted sarcastically.

"Oh Crimson, you're very witty," he said, not very amused at all, "yes I can read. This book in my hand is a book that has allowed me to finally see the light. Do you remember, oh, six hundred years ago when you and I were a magnificent couple?"

Tia chose not to answer this because she remembered all too well the times when she and Lando had been intimate with one another.

"Of course you do, well anyway, I was nice enough, though foolish at the same time, not to get you pregnant, which would've enabled me to have the gift. I would have gained it only too easy had I known that was the key to gaining it. Do you see what I'm getting at?" Again Tia stayed silent. "I will make love to you and I shall finally have the Heart of Hearts."

Tia almost laughed at that thought. How could anyone be so stupid in their own right? Lando Falconi had proved to be smart, cunning, and even the slightest bit charming at times, but right then and there, Tia had decided that he was by far the most pig-headed foolish person to ever walk the earth in the last six hundred and fifty years.

"You've got to be kidding me?" Tia said, unable to keep the smile off her face. "You honestly think you will get anywhere with me, let alone attain the gift? You're really a stupid ancient fool."

Lando's triumphant expression changed when he saw her smile. He had been sure this idea would work and now Crimson was telling him different, or was it just that she was resisting him? "You don't think I can do it?" he asked, putting the old book down on the table beside him.

"I know you can't do it," Tia replied, settling back into a relaxed pose. She felt quite at ease now because she had confidence that the man before her was an absolute idiot. "Would you like to know why it wouldn't work?"

"Indulge me," he said, folding his arms across his chest.

"I will. The Heart of Hearts is passed on from father to daughter. My grandfather gave it to my mother and when I was conceived, it went from my father to me. So, if you did manage to seduce me and then get me pregnant, then it would do you no good for the gift would be passed from you to the child inside me all in the same act. You get it?"

Lando was truly shocked. He had not conceived this part of the plan and now he was lost. Before him stood a woman so beautiful and sure of herself that he knew he had made an error in his research. He'd been chasing this girl for her entire life and he could never gain the gift from her. "There must be some way that a man would be able to attain the Heart, isn't there?" he said, almost begging Tia to tell him.

"There is Lando, but I won't be the one to tell you."

His anger preceded him as he lashed out at her. His hand went out and smacked her directly across the face. "You'll tell me or I will kill you."

"Kill me and you'll never figure it out," she retorted looking back at him in a rage.

"Fine, I won't kill you, I'll kill Roger over there in the corner. Cameron." He gave her a nod and she went over to Roger, placing her wand to his head, threatening Tia with her eyes.

"You would too wouldn't you?" Tia said, finding the words kind of hard to release from her throat.

"And you know it only too well, my love," Lando said, glaring from Roger to Tia.

A lump grew in Tia's throat, knowing she was about to cry if Cameron followed through and killed Roger. He'd been the man in her life for the past twenty years and she would not lie idly by and watch him die. So she took a stand and threw her wand out, directed at Cameron.

The spell struck within inches from Roger and Cameron both, Cameron having jumped back just in time. Lando acted quickly and had his wand at Tia's head before she could aim another spell. "Crimson, you're truly a wonder witch. Only you would be able to conjure that spell. Something you have learned over the years possibly. But you missed."

A flash of light shone from through the window and Lando looked up for a fraction of a second to see what it was. It was a fraction of a second that gained Tia the moment to disarm Lando and throw his wand across the room. Cameron however was further away and by the time Tia had looked up at her, a blinding flash of green light filled the room.

"NO!" Tia yelled at the top of her lungs, though unable to see what had happened, she knew only too well.

"You knew it would come to this Tia," Cameron said from her spot beside the now still body of Roger. "You knew this would cost you."

"You are to blame though," she yelled back at Cameron. "I trusted you and you betrayed me."

"I was never your friend to begin with, but it was true that I have a thing for the Potter kid, that wasn't a lie. My story was real, but you won't live to see my dream come true."

"Why do I care if you love Harry? He'll never care for you like that and you know it."

A spiraling blue spell flew across the room and missed Tia only by a few inches. After that came a red spell and then a gold one, but none hit Tia. It seemed that Cameron was so enraged that she was just flinging off spells here and there.

Tia finally had a chance to throw a spell at Cameron and she did not miss. Cameron was pushed right through the log wall behind her and into the tree behind the cottage.

Lando had long since escaped and now Tia ran over to Roger. There was no way he was alive anymore but she needed to see his face once more before taking more revenge. She held his dead body in her arms, shaking as they were, and looked down at his once loving and caring face.

"Tia!" a worried voice came through the hole in the wall at her.

"Draco? What the hell are you doing here?" she said, laying Roger back onto the cot and then covering him up in a spare blanket.

"I came to help you," came his reply.

Tia looked at him with affection before realizing his hair was ruffled and he had a split lip along with a slash above his eye. "What happened to you?"

"Got kinda carried away when I got here. I saw the men all around the cottage and well, I made an entrance for myself."

Tia giggled a little and then climbed through the hole in the wall. She scanned the trees she saw and then her eyes found a body at the foot of an oak tree. She ran over to it, hand gripping her wand. It was Cameron all right, and she was still breathing, only just. She was lying on her stomach so Tia flipped her over with her boot.

Her violet eyes were open and full of horror. For a messenger of three hundred years, she was certainly overtaken easily. Tia had only hit her with a simple Reducto charm and yet there she lay, cool and clearly in pain.

"You knew it would end like this Cameron," Tia said, pointing her wand at Cameron's chest.

"What are you doing?" Draco asked.

"I'm finishing this, once and for all."

"But Lando is still out there. This won't get you anywhere," he said, trying to prevent her from murdering this girl at the trunk of the tree.

"She killed my father Draco," Tia growled at him, not moving her eyes from her former friend, "I will take my revenge and then I will go back to Hogwarts and wait for Lando to strike once more."

"How do you know he'll come after you again?" Draco asked.

"He will; he's not one to give up that easily." She paused for a split second and then performed the killing curse, right in front of Draco and without any emotion whatsoever.

She turned and walked from Draco and the now dead Cameron without even a second thought. She knew she had to do that and there was no alternative. Her heart was full of anguish and anger and she had no idea what was to come next.

She had gone to the front of the cottage and saw all the men stunned and lying in twisted shapes. Draco finally caught up and Tia turned to smile at him. "You really had a party out here didn't you?"

His smile was something he had not anticipated, but her joke had been so simple that he could not deny her the pleasure of seeing his grin. "I guess I got a little carried away."

"That's okay, you did good."

"Thank you madam. Now can we go home and forget this once again?"

"Do you believe me yet?" Tia questioned as they walked back towards the cliff where they got there.

"I do indeed believe a crazy man is after you and that bitch back there deserved what she got. But it might take me a while to buy into the fact you are six hundred years old."

"Why?" Tia asked when they reached the cliff.

"Well, for starters, you don't look six hundred and seventeen. Second off, I don't really want to believe my girlfriend is six hundred years older than me."

Tia smiled widely at Draco. She turned and faced him, placing her hands on his shoulders. "I can accept that as long as you don't make fun of me again."

"I promise never to laugh at your age or call you an old lady," he said, smirking.

Tia hit him in the shoulder and said, "I mean it bub. No more joking."

"Deal," he said, putting his arms around her waist. "Now can I kiss you?"

"I don't know? Do you deserve a kiss?"

"I should think so after that work out you just put me through. Kiss me now and then we'll leave."

"Okay," she agreed and then kissed him gently on the lips. Her arms tightened around his neck and after their lip lock had broken she still clung to him. The first shakes and shivers were hitting her after what had happened. Tia now realized she'd never wake up to find her father downstairs or his voice soothing her out of a pain attack.

So on Draco's shoulder, Tia cried for her lost friend, and her father figure. She was one to know that friends were not things she could keep for a long duration and yet every time one died because of Lando and his obsession, she cried her eyes out, wanting desperately for things to end.

Her tears dried up and she lifted her head from Draco's shoulder. "You're going to be okay Tia," he told her softly, wiping the stray strands of hair from her eyes. "You're going to make it through this."

"I hope so Draco, I hope so." She pulled back from his grasp, though keeping her hand in his. "How exactly did you get here?" she asked, looking around them.

He waved his wand around in the air once and before them appeared his broomstick. "With this."

"You can fly?" she asked incredulously, though not meaning it. "I didn't know that."

"I know you didn't. There are a great many things about me that you haven't discovered yet, my love. And I intend to make you aware of them when we return to the castle."

"Really. Well mister Malfoy, I suggest we get going."

"I like your thinking Miss McPherson, let's head out." He mounted his broomstick and rather than morphing into her mist form, she climbed onto the back of the broom and flew back to Hogwarts with her arms wrapped around Draco's waist.


	11. The Nights that Followed

Chapter Eleven: The Nights that Followed

Getting back into the swing of things at Hogwarts wasn't exactly easy for Tia, or Draco either. Both were kind of frazzled by the events of a few weeks past.

It was the middle of October when the majority of the student body voted for a dance to lighten the days of Hogwarts. But the faculty gave a unanimous 'no' to the idea and all hopes were dashed for that plan. The professors (if you could call them that) remained tough and homework grew mountainous.

But Draco and Tia were fine with that because it didn't give them a lot of time to talk about things, which neither were keen on doing because it would only make matters worse. They still talked to each other but not as they had before. It wasn't until October 31st that something actually happened for the two of them to talk again, like the way they used to.

The afternoon of the 31st, Draco hardly saw Tia. She had been at lunch and then he saw her in their afternoon classes, but after that he had no recollection of seeing her.

At six o'clock Draco had entered the common room and dropped on the couch in front of the fire. When he decided to get up and check where Tia was he was surprised to find her on the stairs in the most beautiful dress he'd ever seen.

She was wearing an exquisite floor length gown of autumn leaves and harvest colors. It was absolutely breath taking on her slender body, hugging to her every curve. It hung off her shoulders and the train behind her was frilled with golden lace. She was smoothing it over with her delicate fingers, playing with each wrinkle and fold in turn.

He knew it would be rude to not compliment so he began a stuttering praise, but he could not manage to get it out.

"You don't have to say anything Draco," she said, walking delicately down the remaining stairs. "I wanted to show you this dress. It is the only one I still have from the old days, days when I was a sorceress of sorts. I wore this dress when my father gave an engagement party to Lando and I, but we never actually got there because, well…its ancient history now."

Draco's eyes glittered with the image that Tia had made for him. She had once been engaged to Lando and now she was running from him. But like she said, it was ancient history now. "Your still are a sorceress Tia," he said, finally finding his voice, "because you've cast a spell on me somehow." He walked forward and held his hand out as she came to the last step. "What's the occasion?"

"It's Halloween, didn't you know?"

Draco chuckled and smiled. She was amazing and beautiful beyond words and Draco knew for sure that he had fallen in love with a maiden of medieval times. "You really are from the six centuries ago, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. But for now I will be yours, here and now, not so long ago. I have become your Tia."

Draco could not let his smile fade. "Then let me ask the lady to dance for she is certainly dressed for the occasion."

"I'd be delighted sir, but I'm afraid you are not in the proper attire for a dance."

"Hun, we happen to be in the twentieth century, so I will wear whatever I like, as long as _you_ look breathtaking," he said, pulling her into his arms. "And you do."

"Thank you."

"I mean it. I cannot imagine anyone ever being so beautiful." A sudden idea flashed into Draco's head and before he could think on it he said, "Do you think you'll ever marry me?"

Tia's mouth opened and she looked as utterly surprised as she really was. "Wha…What?"

"I said do you think you'll ever marry me?" he repeated, pulling her around in a circle, certain now that he had done right by asking her. But he knew this would be hard for her, but he was willing to accept that.

"But, Draco…I…" she was unable to find the words. "Are you serious, what about Lando and everything that I've been through?"

"I don't care about that. I will protect you through thick and thin and make sure that you never come in harms way. I want to marry you Tia McPherson, and be right here, beside you always."

Tears began to trickle down her face and she threw her arms around Draco's neck. "You really want to marry me, don't you? You're willing to face death in the eye in order to be with me?"

"I am," he replied, hugging her tighter. "So will you?"

"I…I…don't know." Tia was hesitant about everything. She had been asked to marry a man many times, but she had never had this strong an urge to say yes since Lando himself. It was true that Draco could keep her safe and he would make her happy beyond her wildest dreams. But she was still afraid that if she said yes then Lando would take Draco away from her and make her suffer even more, something he was very good at. With all her heart she wanted to say yes, but…there were no buts anymore. She had lived centuries and had loved people her whole life, but they always ended up dead. Something made her believe then and there told her that this would be different. Something told her that Draco would survive. But would she?

"What do you say Tia?" Draco said, still holding her close, "Will you make me the happiest man in the world?"

Tia pulled back and looked deep into his eyes. He was making her this offer from the depths of his heart and she saw every good thing that had ever happened to her since he'd come into her life and every bad thing that might happen if she walked away from this. "As long as you make me the happiest woman in worlds," she said, agreeing to marry him.

His smile spread across both their faces and he picked her up and spun her around, holding her above the ground. "I promise I will make the happiest woman ever to walk this earth in six hundred years," he laughed, setting her feet back in the floor.

His kiss hit her like fireworks and it shot down her spin and then exploded out of her toes. It was hot and passionate and everything she could ever want in a kiss. What mattered then and there was the moment and nothing else. All her bad experiences and Lando Falconi had been stuck at the back of her mind and they stayed there for the remainder of the night and the nights that followed.

"_You have failed Falconi," hissed the cold and frightening voice from behind the chair facing the fireplace. "You have let her get away and now my plans shall not be complete."_

"_Dark Lord, I may had misjudged this time on both parts, but I assure you that I will succeed the next time."_

_Lando had fled from the cottage and gone straight to his most important ally in England at the time, Lord Voldemort himself. But, as he had expected, the Dark Lord was not pleased. Lando was, for the first time in his long life, afraid of what tomorrow might bring because, even though he had lived much longer than the man in the chair, the Dark Lord's followers had overdone him. All around him there were the Dark Lord's Death Eaters and each of them was glaring him down with their cold and unfeeling stare._

"_What makes you think you deserve another chance Falconi?" Voldemort sneered._

"_I deserve at least one more chance because I have news that should prove to be beneficial."_

"_And what news is this?"_

_"I have recently come to hear that the young Malfoy has proposed to my protégée and she is very vulnerable now that her posing father has been murdered. With the Malfoy boy within my grasp then I shall be able to manipulate her like I always have been." Lando was sure this would convince the Dark Lord, but something in the stillness of air told him there was something wrong, but he kept his mouth shut nonetheless._

_"Lucius," Voldemort called over his shoulder to the man just to the left of Lando. _

"_My Lord?" Lucius answered, walking forward to the Dark Lord's side._

_"What do you have to say for your son's betrayal? Is he to be punished thus?"_

_"My Lord, Draco has indeed disgraced this institution and I can no longer call him my son. He is yours to do with as you please, and this includes Falconi's plan."_

_"Very wise Lucius," Voldemort said, now spinning his chair to face Lando. His eyes were red slits of a snake and his nose was barely protruding from his pale skin. He stared Lando down, looking for any sign of weakness or mistrust. But Lando held his head high and stared right back, something no one had ever dared to do, other than Harry Potter himself. "You are given one last chance Falconi," Voldemort said, dropping his gaze. "Do not fail me this time. I will have this girl once and for all and make sure she told Potter, nothing of importance."_

_"Yes, of course, but not after I have had my way with her." Lando's heart lifted when he heard these words and so he challenged Voldemort's authorities, telling him flat out that he would have her first._

_Voldemort's eyes lifted and he glared a death glare at Lando. "You have got some nerve Falconi," he said, coldly. "I may yet regret the day when I chose to assign you to this task, but as you know this girl better than most, I leave her fate in your hands, as long as I get to see her before she dies." His grim and frightening face changed from a sneer to a smile, cruel as it was. "She will find something of a surprise waiting for her, when we meet, soon."_

_"Soon Dark Lord," Lando agreed. "She'll not know what hit her and it shall be for our gain. Harry Potter will never know what hit him, and neither will she."_

_Voldemort's smile turned itself a notch higher and he cackled a high-pitched, spin-tingling laugh, one that made Lando's blood freeze._

_Miles away, in a house in the middle of London, a boy of seventeen woke to the pain that seared in his lightening bolt scar, pain he'd never forget. _


End file.
